Replacing Blower with DOHC

[hoveringuy]

Ok, so I made it to Seattle and found that the car had been shipped here without trauma.

I've had an intermittent blower for a while and need to replace it. It will start if I reach in behind the cover and start turning it by hand so I know it's the blower.

First, how do I know which blower version I need?

Second, what needs to be removed on an M50 to access it? Intake manifold? Wiring box?

Thx,

Hoveringuy

[ed94r]

I was able to RnR the blower by just removing the blower cover panel. I thought that I'd have to pull the manifold, but no need.

20 min job.

Ed

[hoveringuy]

Are they all the same? Will any e30 blower work or do I need Bosch/Behr?

[318isbmw]

I just searched on bma for my year and car and it worked perfect.

[Stu]

I pulled the manifold; tried to do it without removal but couldn't clear one of the two 'waterwheels.' Apparently I was doing it wrong. :)

[FredK]

Do you think you could have jacked up the transmission to get that extra bit of clearance? I hate removing the manifold!

[Stu]

It's possible. I had an ICV to swap and some vaccuum routing to clean up that I was holding off until warmer weather; just wanted the blower motor to have some heat. I went ahead and swapped everything and proceeded to crack the manifold around the fuel rail mount when reinstalling it--fortunately some epoxy took care of that.

[FredK]

duly noted. Hopefully my blower motor stays working for a long while!

[hoveringuy]

I'll let you guys know soon.

Right now I need to start the car, pop the hood, stick my finger into the fan and give it a nudge. Then it will run for as long as the car is on.

[KenC]

I was able to RnR the blower

What did you do exactly?

[ed94r]

What did you do exactly?

My memory isn't the clearest on this but...

I brought it to the shop with the expectation that the manifold would have to be removed. I believe the whole process was as you would remove the cover for the M20 motor...remove cover screws, tuck the wire harness out of the way, remove the straps that hold the cover on, unplug blower, and remove the (I think) 4 nuts the secure the blower motor. I had to try a few different angles to remove the loose blower but I was able to fenegle it out without force. The new one went in at the same angle.

I may have missed a detail or 2 but the jist is that a hack like me was able to remove the blower motor without major surgery.

Ed

[hoveringuy]

I took a shot at pulling the blower this afternoon with the manifold on and there's no way that's going to happen. I will disconnect the passenger side of my wiring box and try to move it over to see if that helps but I will probably need to remove the manifold or at least lift it off the studs and move it forward, if there's room for that.

I also took a good look at the motor while I was wiggling it around and I could see that the brushes had worn almost completely through the commuter ring. I guess that's one downside to an Arizona car... the fan was always running on High.

Anyone have a Bosch blower motor?

[318isbmw]

That sucks, good luck at pullin the manifold for that. Might wanna try and just pull the nuts for the manifold and pop it off and forward w/o disconnecting everything for the fuel rail and such, see if that gives you enough space.

[Jean]

I got a couple, don't know if it's bosch though.

[hoveringuy]

Thanks, I just ordered a new one. I'd hate to put a used one in and do it over.

It looks like if I pull the manifold off the studs I should have enough clearance without needing to completely remove it.

I'll let ya'll know in a week.