Blower Motor Question
 

I have a 1996 850.
I have removed the blower motor frommy car.
I would like to lubricate it.

However, there is NO obvious way to get to the motor shaft or the bearings.
The motor is obscured by the back plastic housing on one end, and the squirrel cage on the other end
How to get to the bearings?

Question:
1) Does any body know how to separate the Motor from the black plastic housing?
2) Or, How to separate the motor from the squirrel cage?
3) If you have lubricated your motor in the past, how did you do it?

Thanks.

RE: Blower Motor Question
 

IIRC the blower motor is held to the black plastic housing via 1 screw on the rear and maybe a tab or two. Other than that it should just come out.
[align=left] [/align]

RE: Blower Motor Question
 

Hi TLC_Lover and Info2x,

TLC_Lover welcome to the forum.

Here is a link to help you:

http://volvospeed.com/vs_forum/index...howtopic=38033

I did this a couple of months ago. A few things that might help
you:

1. My squirrel cage did not want to budge on the motor shaft
when I tried to tap the shaft. I had to support the opposite end
of the motor shaft on a hard surface and tap the squirrel cage
a little further on the shaft using a small socket. This broke the
squirrel cage loose and then I was able to tap the shaft out as
described in the above link.
2. Be sure you measure the clearance between the squirrel
cage and the motor housing before you start to remove the
squirrel cage. You don't want to have to keep removing the
blower to find the right spacing so that the squirrel cage
doesn't rub once it's installed in the dash.
3. The bearings are oiled under the little rubber(?) dust
covers that face the inside of the motor. I used a couple
toothpicks to wedge them away from the bearings and
used a little piece of wire with a drop of oil on the end.
Before I oiled the bearings I flushed them with WD-40.
A lot of black crud flushed out. I don't know if this was
a good idea or not...I might have cleaned them out or I
might have washed contaminants into them.
I also had to wait a couple of days for the WD-40 to
drain out (it only drained partially and diluted the oil I
put in).
4. For "electric motor oil" I used 3in1 Motor oil for
electric motors. It comes in a can just like regular 3in1
but has a blue label. Ace Hardware has it for around
$3.50 I think. Someone also suggested lithium grease
(axelm?)...sorry I've forgotten now who it was.

The brushes on my motor were pretty worn, but it has been
working fine so far.
Oh yeah, and my car smelled like 3in1 oil for about a week
whenever I used the air conditioner.

Best of luck, John

RE: Blower Motor Question
 

Nope, not me...

RE: Blower Motor Question
 

Thanks to J Telectro for very thorough explanation.
Onemore question --are the carbon brushes replaceable?

RE: Blower Motor Question
 

Hi Axelm and TLC_Lover,

Axelm how have you been? Sorry, I thought it might have been
you that suggested lithium grease. My apologies to the person
that made the suggestion. Old brain = Bad memory, lol.

TLC_Lover, yes you could replace the brushes.There is at
least 1 company on the web that sells all kinds of motor brushes.
I don't remember the name but you could do a search on " electric
motor brushes" or something similar. You could also check with
local electric motor repair/rewind businesses. The carbon material
is soft, so you could file something down if you can't find the correct
size. Just be careful not to breath the dust and heed any warnings
the manufacturer gives on working with this material.
I forgot to mention that I removed the brushes before using WD-40
on the bearings. You can remove the brushes by bending the tabs
that hold the brushes and springs in the brush holders. Be careful
because the springs may want to come flying out. Also remember
which way the brushes were oriented in the holders, I think they
wear more on one side due to the direction of rotation.
As a temporary fix I put a loop of solid wire through my brush holders instead of bending the tabs back. I figured I will have to replace the brushes so I didn't want to break the tabs due to repeated bending. This is not the correct way to hold the brushes and I've only done it as a very temporary test.
I also cleaned the commutator with some cotton swabs and denatured alcohol before reassembly.

Best wishes, John