Broken Blower Motor Fan Blade

[mexocutioner]

I replaced my blower motor today, and it immediately began buzzing on the the 3rd and 4th setting. A quick search on here, and I realized maybe a fan blade, or the outer ring that holds all the blades together broke somewhere. After further inspection, it was one little section of the outer ring on the left side that snapped, probably when I stuck the motor back in its housing that's too small. Is there anything I can do to fix the outer ring?

Would Gorlilla or Krazy glue hold up under temperatures from the hot air? Or can I take the blade off of the old motor and replace it? The original motor plastic feels much tougher than what the URO parts used for the fan.

Thanks

[roguetoaster]

Depends on the plastic type really, and since it's probably not marked you'd only be able to guess without being able to measure the melting point. Also, a repair can induce an imbalance across the cage, so keep it tidy if you go that route. Also, cages can technically be removed, but they generally break, although in your case it can't hurt to try.

[ZeKahr]

Just buy a new blower motor. ACM makes a relatively affordable one (about USD 136) that’s pretty similar in quality to the original BMW one - I’ve been running one in my car for about a year now and have not had any issues with it. Part number is 64111370930. You can get it off the Guten Parts website.

Your mistake was that you brought a URO part; URO has a bad reputation as a brand for BMW parts because their parts are routinely substandard quality as you have just found out.

Do not attempt to fix it with Krazy Glue, that’s a ghetto fix that won’t hold up long term. You could try replacing the squirrel cage (or “fan” as you refer to it) itself, but you have to balance the new cage when you put it on. Also the fan cages are a bitch to take off, at least they were on my original 35-year-old blower motor. Considering that the rest of the blower motor bears the URO stamp, I would just replace it with the one from ACM.

[mexocutioner]

Considering the BMW brand one is $600ish on Pelican I suppose ACM is the only option haha. I have had luck with URO parts before so I thought it would be fine, unfortunately not though. The original came out so easy I didn't think it would be such a hassle to put the new on in. Is there a better trick to working the motor in there while protecting those cages?

If it was just an imbalance issue, could you add weight to the other side then? Or is that just overthinking it at this point?

[roguetoaster]

Not sure if ACM is any better than URO, and they may get their parts from the same supplier in any case.

As to balance, a glued repair should be fine, if the right glue is used, but I might be tempted to add a similar amount of weight 180 degrees off from the repair, and ignore the other cage completely. That assumes the cage was balanced from day one, which isn't a given.

There's no trick to install, move stuff out of the way, carefully install blower, use your third hand to help install the retaining clip.

OP, do what your budget allows, and just be prepared to have to do a repair again if you go that route.

[ahlem]

I’ve repaired several using braided fishing line wrapped about 3 turns around the perimeter where the cracks happen then setting the fan on a piece of wax paper and adding a bead of JB Weld and wiping off the excess. The braided line soaks up enough to make a very solid fix. If you know what a barrel knot is it helps.

[packratbimmer]

Getting the blades to balance after a repair will be difficult. If you can find a blown motor with good blades, mark them relative to each other and replace as a pair. It is possible to remove the blades by creating a wooden jig around the blade and then punching the shaft through with a hammer and punch. Measure and reference everything first. It is some tedious work that could result in broken parts and/or failure, but I have been lucky before with this repair.

[TC Baur MD]

I usually buy a used motor with blades from a 1996-2000 z3