I am in the process of replacing the blower motor in my 1990 DL245. First, many thanks to Art Benstein for his stellar tutorial on this job, it is not easy.

If this job is in your future, and you intend to replace the motor resistor, consider getting the resistor from Volvo. I ordered a motor and a resistor from an online vendor. The motor was a VDO, however, it was made in China. There was no play in the shaft and upon testing, the motor started and ran smoothly. Time will tell on the motor. The resistor is another story.

I was on the phone with another BB member when I opened the box for the resistor, the tap with the blue wiring separated from the body of the resistor from no more than the weight of the wiring, I was appalled. In reality, better then than 30 minutes down the road.

I called the vendor, and was told I could send the defective part back and they would ship me another. Or, I could buy another and they would ship it to me and when they received the defective one they would credit my card with the cost of the MTC resistor. I went with option #2. To their credit they gave me a deal on 2nd day shipping, I was in a time crunch and needed to get the car back on the road.

Resistor #2 arrives, and I inspect the resistor. Second verse same as the first! Yep! the tap for the blue wiring, separated from the body with far less stress that would be needed to install it.

I ended up buying from the local Volvo dealer, who had to order it from their distribution center, more time lost. It decidedly superior in quality when compared to the previous two MTC resistors.

I am afraid that this trend in inferior aftermarket parts will only spiral downward.

The pictures speak for themselves

Caveat Emptor