I've noticed for last several days my blower motor was gradually losing rpms after engaging the ac unit. Today, the blower slowed to a halt and will not restart. No smoke, no smell, no noise preceding the failure. It's a 90 model and as far as I can tell the blower has not been replaced (230k mi). Is there a possibility it hasn't failed and there is another problem or am I faced with the dreaded changeout?

Removing the dash is the long way....

Check the archives here - I have replaced 3 blower fans and the last 2 were the easiest.

Don Foster had the best method, involving a "Dremel" type rotary cutting saw.

Cut the ends off of the fan housings, making one large index notch so that it will go back in in the same position.

Leave as much of the outer rim but cut it large enough to remove the fans.

Before you totally cut the end plates free, drill 3 pair of approximately 1/8" dia. holes set equally around the circumference. This is for attaching the end plates later.

Once the ends are off - removing the fansm and then the motor is easier than trying to dis-assemble the housing and working through the dash or removing the dash.

Also - I have noticed that once I removed and replaced the dash - no matter how careful I was - the dash cracked like crazy afterwards.

When it comes to re-assembling the housing - use three small nylon zap-straps to hold the end plate in place - you can snug it very well this way. Then seal the cut line with silicone using a tube or a silcone/caulking gun. The tube is a bit easier to get in under the dash.

The silicone lasts forever and does not dry out and come loose like duct tape.

Good luck.

This is the short version - there are more detailed directions in the archives that address the wiring and a few other nigglies

Before giving up, test it out by doing the following:

The two wires that come out the bottom of the blower housing are the motor wires. Hot wire those to a 12v source. If it runs, it's not the motor, and more probable the switch or the power getting to the switch.

If it doesn't, then you're in for some fun. I FINALLY changed mine's out the last weekend ... taking my time a bit and tidying up some wires along the way, it took me 7 hours. No doubts about it, removing the dash is the way to go (thanks Chris!).

-- Kane ... who did spend some additional time on rewiring up the stereo/changer, painting portions of the upper-half of the dash black, and installing in the iPd molded plastic dash cover.
--
Blossom II - '91 745Ti/M46 ... Bubbles - '74 144GL/BW35 ... Buttercup - '86 245GL/AW70 ... The Wayback Machine - '64 P220/M40

230K sounds pretty good. The blower motor on my '85 gave out at ca. 110K with the same kind of symptoms. After hacking up the side panels to get at it, I cleaned out the motor (had a bunch of graphite dust and who knows what clogging it up) and got another year out of it before it died for good.