Non-AC vs. A/C blower motors

[Heitzke]

Felt this was mostly touring specific, as we're some of the few vehicles that are commonly sans-a/c from the factory.

Blower motor never worked since I picked up the car, and information was a little on the light side with suggestions that they're different on other forums. I purchased a regular E30 unit here locally and set it aside until I had some more free time.

All this being said, they're very much different. It wasn't particularly cheap, but I purchased a replacement non-a/c unit from Sskoda in the classifieds as he parts out euro vehicles.





Non-a/c is the longer one with the much smaller cages.



I only took shitty pictures while swapping them, but the motor is really easy to swap. Behind the wiring harness, cover, the cages are covered by 2-piece plastic shells that just snap together:





Also, due to the smaller cage size, they're able to be swapped without touching anything on the manifold (M40 anyway). FWIW the resister is also not located underneath the motor like the US-based. It's located up underneath the dash on the driver's side. I'll have to dig up some of the pictures I saw on other forums.

[Shftr8]

it looks like a E21 blower motor from the pictures

[Heitzke]

it looks like a E21 blower motor from the pictures

That's interesting, i'll have to check the part #'s today

edit: part numbers are different, but they do look similar. FWIW, http://www.schmiedmann.com/641113737...y-as-used.aspx has them cheaper than what I paid and also shows a parts cross-reference to Z3's also using the same motor.

Quick search on US ebay for Z3 shows a lot of blowers that look similar to the a/c E30 piece

[Shftr8]

The mercedes r107 SL's used the same blower motor as the e21 but the fan blades were a different spacing which gave them different part numbers. Check the Bosch number stamped into the motor itself. Should start with 0130 or something

[Intense]

Interesting...are you adding AC to your Touring? Hence the blower motor swap?

Is the swap required to add AC to our cars? Personally, I don't understand how a blower motor (and cage) would be AC (or non-AC) specific.

[Heitzke]

Interesting...are you adding AC to your Touring? Hence the blower motor swap?

Is the swap required to add AC to our cars? Personally, I don't understand how a blower motor (and cage) would be AC (or non-AC) specific.

It doesn't help that photobucket appears to be down right now, lol. I probably didn't explain what I was doing very clearly.

The blower motor in my car never worked since I picked it up, so I purchased a random E30 blower motor since I assumed they were all the same, but turns out our non-a/c cars have very different components.

Don't have any plans to add a/c to the car, but the non-a/c unit is much less sealed up than the a/c components. Not exactly sure what all the a/c pieces look like besides the blower setup, but the blower I have is very open and unsealed in comparison. I have to assume the a/c unit is more efficient at moving air through the vents

edit: as I type this, my blower motor is no longer working haha. Motor suddenly stopped, had a quick blast of a burning smell and now no movement from anything. I have to assume the transistor torched, but that's to be seen :facepalm:

[Shftr8]

The A/C box is different but will swap in just fine if you were to add it. Although I dont have everything working at the moment (middle of a motor swap) The A/C box is in place and everything lines up and the dash is back in as well. Now its just a matter of wiring and I will finally have A/C in my touring. Im in Florida and its definitely a requirement of mine

And yes it seems like the resistor may be the problem. Cheap and pretty easy fix although you may need another blower motor

[Intense]

The A/C box is different but will swap in just fine if you were to add it. Although I dont have everything working at the moment (middle of a motor swap) The A/C box is in place and everything lines up and the dash is back in as well. Now its just a matter of wiring and I will finally have A/C in my touring. Im in Florida and its definitely a requirement of mine

And yes it seems like the resistor may be the problem. Cheap and pretty easy fix although you may need another blower motor

I'm in Charlotte, so I (kinda) feel your pain about lack of AC. This will be my first summer with the car, we'll see how well (or not) I survive.

I have a feeling adding AC might be a project this winter...

[Heitzke]

The A/C box is different but will swap in just fine if you were to add it. Although I dont have everything working at the moment (middle of a motor swap) The A/C box is in place and everything lines up and the dash is back in as well. Now its just a matter of wiring and I will finally have A/C in my touring. Im in Florida and its definitely a requirement of mine

And yes it seems like the resistor may be the problem. Cheap and pretty easy fix although you may need another blower motor

Nice, that's good to know. Since you're torn into it a bit you may know before I try, the resistor for non-a/c is allegedly accessed from underneath the dash area on the driver side?

Guess i'll check resistor first, and then use a fused-jumper to see if the motor burned up too

[Shftr8]

I will try to find out about the resistor. I run a shop and one of my techs is the one tackling the task and its been awhile since we were able to work on it. and it may be in a different location on the box which we just completely pulled out and tossed to the side somewhere. holding off on the rest of the wiring until andrew makes me a harness for the motor swap in case something might be different.

[Heitzke]

Resistor is accessible through the drivers side floor area, underneath the dash. It's really hard to see it, so I ended up just pushing it from the blower motor access panel and down into the cabin. Resistor looks pretty haggard, haven't tested the motor itself yet.

[Shftr8]

do you know if the resistors are the same as an A/C car??

[Shftr8]

I just look and no they are different.

[Heitzke]

Yeah unfortunately different. Just ordered another BMW one this afternoon, should have it here in a few days now.

Hopefully get a chance to test out the motor here tonight, otherwise I have a big 'ol Schmiedmann list put together to order. (somehow this thread is turning into a build thread)

[Intense]

Slight thread-hack:

I just realized my blower only works on the high (4) setting. I seem to remember (from years ago) this is a relatively common issue with e30s. Can anyone shed some light on this problem?