I am about to embark on using the "chainsaw method" to replace the heater blower in my '89 244. I have a copy Don Foster's excellent instructions, but I'm not sure what year he originally wrote them for.

Does anyone know if there are any differences I should be aware of for an '89 before I fire up the Husqvarna?
--
Andy in St. Paul, '91 745 Regina 198K mi, '89 244 142K, '87 245 RIP

There's no need to remove the dash top to do the job without
cutting. You just need to remove the center console and sidecovers,
the glovebox, the radio, all of the heating ducts (except for
the defrost ducts that can be slid out of the way), the gauge
panel, and the plastic blower motor covers. The job is not nearly
as involved as some people say it is, IMHO.

-b.

Yea, I meant Dremel. The Husqvarna is just for the bar and chain oil I used on the underside of my brick. Wasn't that your idea too?
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Andy in St. Paul, '91 745 Regina 198K mi, '89 244 142K, '87 245 RIP

Hello Andy,

Before you start hacking away . . . I recently replaced the Heater Blower in my 81 Volvo 244DL . . . Piece of Cake, just a lot of labor invloved. Patience is definitely required. My job looks factory original. I disassebled the whole thing, including unsnapping the flattened U clips on both sides. I did it in one day. I could have done it in less, but the fellow at the wrecking yard gave me a newer blower motor, but the mountings are different. I even took the motors apart, cleaned and lubed the replacement, reassembled everything into the old shock-mounted tripod mount and installed it, including the Grounding Wire to its original location, just using a small Z shaped screw driver.

All the stuff that you find in the archives is totally unnecessary, in my opinion.

I'm gonna go with this one. With a non-air bag car, just take it all apart. There's a way to do it without even taking the dash top off. I have to say, after doing it both ways, I don't think I'll remove the dash next time.

I did that in the 82 because I was replacing the dash anyway. Wasnt needed to do the heater though it was a lot easier to see. I found that it didn't really help with access to the motor anyway.

The clips by the way can be slid to the end of their slots in a lot of places. They don't all have to be pried off. Same for reinstalling, attach and slide to the right place.

Getting the rear heater flaps back in right seems to be the most frustrating part of the job- I've broken one before. These are the curved flaps in the bottom of the heater core tubes.

Good luck!
--
Rob Bareiss, New London CT ::: '87 244DL/M47- 234K, '82 245T/M46-182K, '84 242DL/AW70-100K, '89 244DL/AW70- 212K and I miss my: 86 244DL 215K, 87 244DL 239K, 88 744GLE 233K, 88 244GL 147K, 91 244 183K

Yeah I agree. No need to chainsaw the housing for the blower. Its not that hard to get the clips off the covers and then you don't have to piece back together mangled housings. I would take the dash off though. For the amount of extra time it takes, you get a clear view of the unit, and you can sit on the seat to work on it instead of looking under the dash. Beyond what you would have to take apart anway, I would say taking the dash off is only another 15 minutes at most. Plus its a great opportunity to check on/replace frayed wiper cables.

The newest 240 I've done that on is my old '86. I don't think there's any difference in the blower housing from '86 to '89, however.

Incidentally, while you might choose a Husqvarna, I decided to use a Dremel chainsaw.

Good luck!

--
Don Foster (near Cape Cod, MA)

Thanks Don. Espcially for figuring this out and posting it in the first place.

It's cold in my garage and whatever hours I can save at this job now are well worth there being some hacked up plastic hidden under my dash when I am done.

The only thing I will have to figure out is how to get the cutouts back in place. I don't see any glue curing out there when it's 20 degrees with the kerosene heater on all day. Don't know if duct tape will even stick now, but if so, I think I will use that and plan on gluing it right when things warm up in a few months.


--
Andy in St. Paul, '91 745 Regina 198K mi, '89 244 142K, '87 245 RIP

Use small 'dabs' of 5-minute epoxy in 3 or 4 places per side. Most 2-part epoxies are exothermic and are not terribly sensitive to ambient temperature. Once your car is making heat again and warms up, put on the duct tape or RTV.