5 hours into blower motor extrication, I sighted the beast. I took to fiddling with it for an hour or so in a vain attempt to revive it. I knew I didn't want to spend the $220 I was quoted by Volvo Price Stranglers Inc. so I tried everything, but the commutator was missing half its copper. I called up Central Auto Parts. Their price: $30. HMMM wonder which one I'M gonna choose. At this point I practiced restraint in failing to call up the Volvo dealer to offer a judicious slathering of profanities. Got motor. Shaft comes up 1/2 inch short.

Begin surgery. Reverse motor. Slice deep holes in motor housing while still inside dash. Gouge hand. Attain hammer. Attack Volvo.

Motor in. Blades now fit snugly against right side of fan blade housing. Turn motor on top speed, place sharp knife in path of blade. Slice until blades clear housing. Test for clearance at all speeds. Reattatch housing parts and dash. Test motor again. Curse repeatedly. Reopen dash and housing. Turn motor on top speed. Use sharper knife with more force. Test. Reattatch housing and dash. Test. Curse repeatedly. Shower, then sleep.

Total time for swap n' fabricate: approximately 11 hours. Only broke the a/c switch, and several illumination bulbs no longer function. Am I the world's fastest or slowest blower motor change?

Maybe this is obvious, but I found that by removing the little grille cover on top of the dash, I was able to get to those remote top clips on the blower housing fairly easily. The rest are accessable by removing side panels of center console. It still took me 5-6 hours, cut up hands and some foul language also. I think I'm going to use a new Volvo fan motor next time instead of grinding out all that plastic. The budget steel unit sounds kind of cheap any way when its running. It's no place to cut corners when you're all that way into a car.

-Chris (currently driving '88 with orig blower. I'm sure I'll be confronting this beast at some point!)

Issac: You are just in feeling the way you do. The job takes backyard Joes like us a while to do. In the spring of 1996, my 245GLT fan motor bit the dust. It took me only an hour to take most of the dash and glove box out. I left the job in place for awhile to contemplate how to attack getting the motor out. This time period turned into indefinate as I drove the machine with the guts exposed in full view of driving my subordinated to guard duty for a lenthy time back and forth to work everyday, loathing what was ahead of me. Eventualy, the 99 degree tempuratures of early May in Texas provided me the motivation to complete the task at hand. I paid $80 for a new motor, received it, and started the process of removing the old motor. It took lots of pried out clips and cut to my smallish forearm muscles to get to the motor. She came out without too much a fight. The problem was that the replacement motor's shaft was 1/16" thinner than the old shaft! What can one do in such a situation??? I did the American thing to do. I bought some JB Weld, centered the squirel cage fan assembly, and welded the motor scooter to the shaft. The rest of the job was only very annoying to finish. What was bad about my situation was having to wait a day for the weld to set. I felt like Frosty the Snowman in Miami, but I was used to this by this time. After the one day wait, I felt like the 245 turbo wagon AC was putting out the equivilant of a walk-in beer wharehouse

storeroom degree of coolness.

Isaac, this job is for the birds, but if you love you family, your workers, and yourself, you will do whatevdr it takes to accomplish your mission. It provides you with valuable experience and room to talk smack.

What is owning a 200 series about anyway???????

Ummmm.... I guess this news comes a little late but I guess later is better than never.

To make the after-market motors fit (OEM and others) into a 83, you need to look at housing where the moter bolts in. With the motor removed, you will see three plastic standoffs built into the housing. Grind these 1" nubs flat and the fan will fit perfect.

I did it with a dremel tool and lots of curse words. Then more derogatory comments and interesting combinations of swear words when I vacumed all the mess out of there. I STILL have the occasional plastic fleck come out of the vents but, it runs quiet and strong.

I dunno, my mechanic claims he can do one in 4 hours on a 240, but he knows a trick.. you drill a couple of holes somewhere to get it out without taking out the whole dash, etc...

;)

I might qualify with the timing belt that lasted 125 miles after a rogue piece of the timing belt cover decided to fall out into the belt pulleys!

Well Isaac, I beat you and you beat me. I did my first (and last) one on a '75, It took me 6 hours But I'm convinced I cursed more then you. So I was a bit faster with the entire job but you showed much more dignity during the operation.

Blower motor replacement; a Volvo maintainence oversight, for sure.

Hell, I did the job on my girlfriends car because "how hard can it be" After investing all that time to do the blower I thought it best to marry her.

So now you're her blower motor slave, EH?

Speed: Seems to be about average for a first time attempt. I did it on a '74 164 (essentially the same unit), only broke the hazard switch and had an intermittent radio after that. Got a new hazard switch from a friend and could replug the radio by only removing the driver side center console side panel.

Bram