[DeTomaso] Heater blower motor

[MikeLDrew at aol.com]

In a message dated 7/13/09 4 58 4, lplugw at hotmail.com writes:


> 
> Gentle People,
> My heater blower motor has been acting funny, sometimes requiring I stick 
> my finger into the opening to give the squirrel cage a little spin to get 
> her going.
> It finally quit completely Friday. I would guess the brushes are gone or 
> hanging up.
> Are the motors rebuildable?  If not, does anyone have a spare? (my car-74L 
> #7102)
> How much fun are they to get out from under the dash? Doesn't look too 
> bad. How do the blower outlets tie into the heater box? Anything special to 
> watch out for so I don't snap off some piece of plastic somewhere?
> Thanks in advance,
> 

Ah, you are in for a treat!   Reportedly getting the heater motor out of 
the car is one of those 'special' jobs that you will remember for a long time! 
  I've never done it and hope I never have to.   Jack has done it (and 
written about it) and I'm sure he'll chime in with good advice.

You can take consolation in the fact that the new fans are much, much 
better than the old ones.   The old fan is a single-speed unit, whose speed is 
stepped down through the use of a resistor grafted to the side (top?) of the 
heater box.   That itself can become problematic, and Chuck Engles reported 
here years ago that his became seriously overheated to the point of smoking.

The new fans are three-speed units, with the speed controlled from within 
the fan itself.   They have four wires--a ground, and three individual power 
wires, each of which controls a different speed.   You get to choose which 
two of the three speeds you want (since your stock switch will only support 
two speeds, and 'off'.   Once you've done that, it then becomes a very 
straightforward matter to wire the fan to the switch.

Although all the Pantera vendors sell a replacement fan, it's often quite 
expensive.   The Gearhead Database (bless you Bill Taylor) has this to offer:

http://www.air-tique.com/fittings.html   Three Speed bolt in replacement 
heater/AC fan   Air-Tique (PN AT-4320) for $28.28   separate speed windings

I can't get their website to load at the moment; whether it means the 
company is bust, or just suffering internet problems, I don't know.

Steve Hawkins in Houston had a source for replacement fans, and I got one 
from him and it was perfect (for somebody else).   Steve?

Mike


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