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Welcome to the blower motor failure club. As you may have read elsewhere
here, my 2nd one's failed identically to the first. The bearing(s)
fail(s), the groaning begins, the efficiency goes down, the current draw
goes up, the ECC ECU notices this... Volvo replaced my original under
warranty, and the 2nd's failed identically to the first at nearly
identical miles. So I asked Volvo if they felt OK about their repair or
if they'd like to try again. Their response was that since the warranty on
the repl part is only a small fraction of the new car warranty that
covered the original, and thus the repl out-lasted its warranty by a
significant margin, that, yes, they felt fine about their "repair" and
would offer no assistance this time around.
Retail price on the part is ~ $200.
I think this is a bigger scam than the tire fiasco that cost Volvo $20+M,
right up there with evaporator failures (more expensive but perhaps less
common than blower motor failures?). Replacing a $200 part every 3 years?
More people should be made aware of this Volvoism! Please contact Volvo
(I've been using X1981 lately at 800-458-1552) regarding your exposure to
this volvoism. Feel free to tell Frank that Dave from Colo Spgs suggested
you call -- that might not help you but might help make Frank aware of a
brewing consumer revolt... VCNA should feel free to do the right thing!!)
It's an annoying/tedious job to replace but not too difficult. Little
crap, like releasing the plastic arms that keep the glovebox door from
opening too far, so the glovebox can be slid out, bog the job down in
details (850). If/when you pull yours, the part that comes out has one
screw that secures the motor to its mounting plate. Before you unscrew it,
you'll find that you can unclip the motor's 2 electrical contacts and
easily slide them out as one plastic part. Then, unscrewing the 1 screw
will allow the motor to slide out from its mounting plate. Please note any
corrosion or other signs of water damage to the area where the 2 contacts
you slid out connect "internally" to the motor's 2 contacts. (Useful info
for the upcoming class action law suit...)
Did you try the manual fan speed control? (I never use auto, so I don't
know if mine would shut off completely -- it rarely/never has.) If you're
at speed, slightly cracking the moonroof will create enough pressure to
give a little airflow through the heater core, which should do some good,
unless your ECC ECU is being really obstinate (or someone left the system
in recirc mode).
Mild California Autumns, too.
The motor is made by Bosch(!). The 'trick' that's prevented me from
properly (or even half-assed) servicing the bearing is that the plastic
squirrel cage seems fused to the shaft; I'm sure I could get it off (maybe
even in one piece) but think it unlikely I'd subsequently ever be able to
get it reattached properly...
One recent poster mentioned that he'd found someone to service the motor,
but the post suggested that the pro servicer may have also had difficulty
re-attaching the fan/cage to the shaft.
Please keep us informed,
- Dave; '95 854T, 120K mi
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