Heater Blower Motor Replacement Diy (Interior Fan)

[h4l]

Hey,

The heater blower motor on an '07 Aygo completely died (interior fan didn't turn on/blow any air at all). The dealer wanted £800 to fix it (6 hours labour + £200 for the blower motor) so I decided to do it myself, following the Haynes manual. I got it done, but it ended up being a much bigger job than I'd anticipated as the Haynes manual instructions were incomplete and didn't allow the old motor to be removed as they stated. I thought I'd post some information on the job here in case anyone else wants to attempt it. I couldn't find any real information about it online.

Unfortunately I wasn't taking photos throughout so I can't do a start to finish DIY, so I'll have to refer to the Haynes manual. Obviously I can't reproduce the content of the Haynes manual here.

Standard disclaimer applies - I accept no responsibility for your actions, everything you do is at your own risk etc.

Difficulty:

This is a labour intensive and fiddly DIY. Some of the steps in the Haynes manual are 4/5 for difficulty ("experienced DIYer"). As mentioned above, the dealer quoted 6 hours for the job which is probably about right if you're working fast and know exactly what your doing. It took me a several evenings after work on my drive to get it done. Working in the dark didn't help though.

It involves awkward things like lying on your back in the footwell to unplug connections behind the dash.

Steps:

I'm assuming you've already diagnosed the heater blower motor as being broken. I did this by taking off the top of the dashboard to access the motor's plug. I checked that I had power at the motor's power plug cables when the fan was switched on. I also checked that the motor wouldn't work when powered up directly. After this I bought and plugged in the new blower motor to the plug and turned on the fan while holding it in my hand (not installed yet) to verify that it would indeed work when installed.

Part 1

Start by following the Haynes manual instructions on removing the Heater blower motor. Roughly speaking the manual says:

1. Remove upper dashboard (includes things like driver's airbag, a pillar trim etc)
2. Remove the clutch pedal
3. Unplug the blower motor and extract it

At this point you'll discover the problem with the Haynes manual's instructions, which is that it's not possible to fully remove the blower motor from the car because there's not physically enough space to get it out from behind the dash. The top of the dash is blocked by a supporting bar welded to the front dash crossmember. Even if you interpret the Haynes instructions on removing the clutch pedal to mean remove the clutch pedal bracket too, you'll find that the steering column gets in the way, preventing the blower motor from coming out through the driver's footwell (where the clutch pedal was).

Part 2

At this point you should have the blower motor free behind the dash, but unable to get it out. The steering column is in the way. The aim here is to get the steering column out of the way. You can do that without actually removing the steering wheel & column by unbolting the steering wheel pivot bolt. This is the point that the steering wheel pivots at when you adjust the wheel up/down.

A. To do that you'll need to take off the lower dashboard to access the bolt on the steering wheel assembly and give you space to move the steering wheel/column enough to get the blower out. Follow the Haynes manual instructions on removing the lower dash. It's quite a bit of work... It includes:

1. Removing center console
2. Removing instrument panel on the steering wheel
3. Removing footwell side trim on both sides
4. Removing heater control panel (including its control cables)
5. Various cables/plugs

B. If you've not done so already, remove the bracket the clutch pedal mounts onto. It's bolted onto the bulkhead with 2 bolts and 2 nuts. The 2 nuts are very awkward to get at. A long socket with a universal joint and various socket extensions should do the job, but you can get by with a normal combination spanner. I had to bend an old one to allow it to engage on the lower bolt...

Removing the steering column protector plate will give you a little more room too. This is the metal plate behind the steering wheel, just has one bolt. See Section 10.15.10 in the Haynes manual for a photo.

C. Now that the lower dash is out of the way, you can get the steering column out of the way and get the motor out.

At this point the car should look similar to this:

Manoeuvre the blower motor down so that only the steering column is stopping it from falling out into the driver's footwell. Note that there's a bundle of cables which you'll have to squeeze the motor past. It's a tight fit but it should go past the cable bundle with a bit of wiggling.

Unlock the steering wheel adjustment lever below the wheel so that you can pivot the wheel up and down. Find the point that the steering wheel assembly pivots at. There is one bolt at the pivot point which you'll need to undo. After undoing and removing this bolt the steering column should stay in place as it rests on a couple of hidden hooks. By gently lifting it slightly and easing it slightly towards the windscreen it should come free - you'll be supporting it entirely yourself. Note that the cables for the indicators, wipers etc are still connected, so make sure you don't allow it to drop or hang without support! It's safest to assume that the wheel/column could drop at any time and always be ready to take its weight. An assistant supporting the wheel will make things easier at this point, but I did it by myself.

Now that the wheel and column are free from the mounting, manoeuvre the wheel/column such that the universal joints in the steering column move enough to allow the heater motor to drop past into the driver's footwell. Once the old motor is out, insert the replacement motor into the underside of the dash, just past the steering column. Move the steering column back to prevent the motor falling out. Hook the steering wheel back onto the it's mounting points. It should sit at approximately the normal position. Line up the pivot point and reinsert the pivot bolt and nut. Tighten to the specified torque (25 Nm for mounting bolts according to Haynes).

Here's what the steering column looks like disconnected at the pivot point. Note that in the photo the bolts in the universal joints are removed as my initial plan was to try to remove the middle section of the steering column. (This didn't work out.) Don't remove the bolts yourself!

Work the motor blower up through the dash and into place. Here's a photo of it going back up:

From here on refitting is the reversal of removal.

Total cost was £100 for the new blower motor from a car parts shop. It's the same make as the original one (Valeo) so I don't think you're losing anything by not getting a part from the dealer (other than warranty perhaps).

Hope this helps someone!

Edited October 20, 2013 by h4l

[rajivrattna]

let us hope that I do not need to change my blower motor since this DIY is not an easy one to do or even understand. It is a pity that sequential and multiple photo opportunity was missed because it would have made it much easier to follow.

[Uncle Bob]

Respect to you Hal, that looks a !Removed! nightmare. Looking at the photos would taking the lower column shaft off Make life any easier ?

[h4l]

Cheers Bob. If you could get out the lower steering column shaft you could get the blower through. That was my first plan. It felt like there would be enough play in the joints between the sections to get it out once the bolts on the universal joints were loosened. That didn't seem to be the case unfortunately. I couldn't easily move the joints or the shaft/column once they were undone. That said, I didn't want to force it and damage something, so I was being cautious. Perhaps it could be done with a few taps from a mallet.

let us hope that I do not need to change my blower motor since this DIY is not an easy one to do or even understand. It is a pity that sequential and multiple photo opportunity was missed because it would have made it much easier to follow.

Yeah, trouble was when I started I was thinking it would be a straightforward "follow the manual" job so I didn't think it would be worth making a DIY. Once I realised the manual was wrong I was only thinking about how to get the !Removed! motor out. If the above post is read in conjunction with the appropriate sections of the manual I hope it will make sense. At worst this should serve as a warning to people that replacing the blower motor is not as simple as the Haynes manual would have you think.

Hal

[Uncle Bob]

Car manufactures put the long spline section on the lower steering column to allow it to slide down within its self, this should allow the lower column to come out and leave the upper part in place......maybe a bigger hammer was needed :):)

Would the job have been easier with the lower column out ?

[h4l]

That makes sense, it did look and feel like there was enough room for the column to slide into the lower joint enough for the upper one to separate. Perhaps I should have persisted with that approach!

If you could remove the lower column it would speed things up a lot. You could skip removing the lower dash which is about 50% of the work.

[Uncle Bob]

Just had a look at my copy of the Haynes manual...never read such a basic discription of how to do the fan job !

[h4l]

Yeah, it's a bit poor. I'm guessing they wrote up that section with most of the interior already removed from their car and just guessed what you'd need to remove to do it from scratch... Leading to them forgetting about the steering column.

[Raistlin]

Still at least we know who to call :)

[Hornblower]

Hello All

Just fitted replacement blower motor and can assure you it can be done from top of dash.  No need to remove centre console, footwell trims, carpets etc.

Clutch pedal, with mounting bracket, have to come off. Trim under steering wheel has to come off ( easy enough if careful ). This allows you to adjust steering column as required ).

Immobiliser box has to come off to get it out of way of motor passage. Dead easy - just one bolt on the mounting bracket.

This job was completed in just less than 1 hour

Cheers

[CraigTucker]

The above was very useful and I used it until I got to the lower removal when I realised I didn’t have all the correct tools - typical, so being committed as was all apart I decided to get drastic and cut (yes you read that correctly) a corner of the air duct away, this meant all I needed to do was remove the clutch bracket and I could remove from the top. 90 second apoxyed the section back having pre tested and whilst it’s not a professional approach it worked for me. Total time from starting to finish 2hours. I am not saying this is the best way, but it’s a Heath Robinson aproch and each to their own. Worst part of the job for me was undoing the lower clutch bracket nut and reconnecting the clutch cable after removing the pedal arm to allow the clutch bracket to move more.

[Laney185]

On 9/13/2018 at 9:29 AM, Hornblower said:

Hello All

Just fitted replacement blower motor and can assure you it can be done from top of dash.  No need to remove centre console, footwell trims, carpets etc.

Clutch pedal, with mounting bracket, have to come off. Trim under steering wheel has to come off ( easy enough if careful ). This allows you to adjust steering column as required ).

Immobiliser box has to come off to get it out of way of motor passage. Dead easy - just one bolt on the mounting bracket.

This job was completed in just less than 1 hour

Cheers

Hi 

Sorry to be a pain but my motor is gone the C1 08 plate. It's a good car , but like others I really do not want to tackle this job. As spending a day on it does not seem worth it would just sell the car. Reading your comment gives me hope. 

 

Could you explain how you did it please or what I need to do exactly , I'm not an expert but give things a go. Was worried this was a bit too much for me ! 

 

Thanks 

 

Live in Kent if anyone felt like doing this lol