How To: Replace Heater Fan Blower Motor

345DL · Oct 16th, 2015, 23:57

A common fault on 240s is the heater blower motor burning out. There are a few guides online as to how to do it, but none for cars without aircon (which is the majority here, I am quite certain!). I did the job a few weeks ago, and took some detailed pictures along the way, so I thought a decent write-up was in order.

A warning though: I am a lawyer not a mechanic, so this is not a difficult job by any stretch of the imagination, but it is time consuming and often frustrating. I took two days to complete it, day 1 removal, and day 2 replacement.

The first step is to remove the front seats, it makes access so much easier. They each unbolt with four 13mm nuts, and an electrical connector under each for the heated seats and seat belt warnings.

Then take the felt under the dash out on both sides, and also both plastic panels which hide the centre console.

Remove the front floor vents from both sides, which attach with two little clips. You will get very familiar with these little clips as this job progresses! There's a bolt below too which needs to be removed, which holds the heater box onto a bracket. Loosen the ducts that take the air to the rear, just unscrew the single screw which holds the duct to the heater box.

From this point, the Haynes manual suggests that you put hose clamps on the hoses which go from the engine bay to the heater, or drain the coolant system. I could not get the hoses off the heater matrix, and so Bugjam1999 advised that actually leaving the heater matrix in place and just removing the whole dashboard was an easier job. So…I trusted his advice and followed precisely the guidance on this incredibly useful site: http://cleanflametrap.com/dash.html
It is very accurate, and really it is not a difficult job, and here are some pictures to prove it.

I took photos of all the electrical connectors so I would not go wrong when reconstructing. This is behind the instrument cluster. I had to break the anti-tamper seal on my speedo, which was reassuring in that I could prove it had never been replaced!

You accumulate rather a lot of plastic:

Emptied:

Loose:

Out and in the spare room

Meanwhile, the scene in the car

So time for a closer look at what we actually need to do. The heater fan sits inside this beige box

The beige box is made up of two halves, held together by little metal clips along the spine, as you can see in the picture above. What we are able to do is to split this box open whilst it is still in place in the car, just enough to be able to pull the old heater fan out, and replace it.

So the next job is to ping off all the little metal clips. There are about 5 at the front all the way down, and 5 at the back. It requires a lot of contortion to flick them all off with a screwdriver, and you are bound to lose some down a black hole in the car, but life will go on.

Here are a few of mine off, the easiest and most visible ones first

You also need to disconnect these supporting brackets for the heater box on both sides, just the bolts that attach to the scuttle will do. These are quite awkward to get at.

After you have got all the clips off, then you need to separate the two halves just enough to pull the fan out, but to do that you need to jiggle the heater box down from the scuttle . It takes a lot of doing, shoving, moving, pulling and generally breaking your back and knees. Here is mine beginning to give, and showing the first glimpse of the offending fan

And free

It’s pretty leafy in there!

The fan itself is wired by red, green and blue wires directly to the different speeds on the fan switch on the centre console as you can see below, and also earthed to the heater valve.

The fan is now clear and out of the car

The next job is to swap the mounting blades from the car to the new fan.

I failed miserably at getting the rubber lugs through the holes, so eventually had to resort to some drastic Stanley knife action, followed by a bit of reparative resin. You may have better luck than me! The mounting blades only fit one way, so be careful – they slot into cut-outs on the inside of the heater box. The blade at the front does not have a 'foot', so it's quite easy to work out how it fits.

So we are now halfway, and as Haynes would say, refitting is a reversal of removal!

Getting the fan back in is a bit of trial and error, but it eventually goes in. However, closing the heater box is quite tricky, and takes a lot of time. The heater matrix is heavy and droops down, so needs to be coaxed up to its precise position inside the heater box so that it closes properly, a long heavy screwdriver gives just about enough leverage. Take care when closing the heater box though that all your flaps have seated properly in their holes. Test all the levers on the heater controls for goodness sake, before putting the car back together! One of mine was not seating properly, so I had to have another session of flicking all the little clips off and correcting the fault.

Before full re-assembly of the dash, do just test the new fan to make sure it’s not a dud. Mine was fine, so I proceeded to put all this stuff back together

You will see that I rather anally put all the bolts, buts and clips in an egg crate, and labelled what they all were. Believe me, when re-fitting everything on day 2 I was very glad I had done that as I was scratching my head quite a lot even though I knew where things were supposed to go!

So there you go, a good weekend’s work and the heating heart of the 240 restored back to full health again. Your knees will take a week to recover.

volvo always · Oct 17th, 2015, 01:20

Great write up thanks

I have to do mine sometime as the fan has been dead for 3 years

Why oh why did Volvo put it there? I'm sure the 740 fan was behind the passenger side glovebox so far easier.

James

hennabm · Oct 17th, 2015, 14:25

Thank you for the write up and pictures.

Seems like Volvo took the fan and built the car around it.

Velorum · Oct 18th, 2015, 08:29

Great write up and photos!

Somewhere there is a photo guide that shows how to do it without dismantling the dash - though you have to cut through some if the structure at the side if the footwell

I quite agree with the above comments - its one of the more annoying design flaws of the 200 series that the whole dash seems to be built around the fan unit (I would add the wiring route for the estate tailgate and position of the fuse box to that!) and its something that I have never felt up to attempting.

On the one 240 Ive had where the fan called it a day I bought a 12v demister / portable heater unit that I plugged into the cigarette lighter socket!

If I needed to resolve this kind of thing now I think it would be a case of paying someone to do it or buying another car!

honestjoe · Oct 20th, 2015, 07:12

Oh the memories!..well done.hj

Honest989 · Dec 26th, 2015, 18:37

345dl thank you for the write up.

One of the replies is talking about the Cutting method of replacing the fan but, as an FYI, that method is for air-conditioned Volvos which were primarily in the states and Canada - they got the 'combined unit' which is a different thing to the 'standard unit' everyone outside of those markets got.

To the OP, did you slice the rubber lugs in half and then reglue them? What did you use to glue it back together (I have the same problem)

Did you have any issues with the earth wire? It seems to stick out a bit on the new fan.

345DL · Dec 26th, 2015, 18:47

I think I sliced two sides off each of the rubber lugs so they would slide through the holes. Then I made sure they stayed in place with some Q-bond black resin and glue. I wanted to be sure it wouldn't detach!

No, I managed not to have any problems with the earth wire, I think as long as it clears the moving parts of the fan it will be fine.

Honest989 · Dec 29th, 2015, 17:06

OP I'm back again!

Do you know how to get the control wires back into their plastic swivelling holders? (you may not have had to do this as you did yours in situ. Unfortunately, I had to go the whole hog and pull the unit. It took about two hours to get the heater hoses off...... Never again. Good news though - at least the fan works! Wooooo!

345DL · Dec 29th, 2015, 17:21

Well done! It's a very satisfying job (after its finished and all working again at least!)

I'm sorry, I didn't need to take those wires off, so I don't know from experience.

BassplayerSteve · Jan 21st, 2016, 21:04

I hope my fan doesn't die! that's a lot of work to get to the fan - thanks for the write up & pics, very informative.

Oct 16th, 2015, 23:57	#1
345DL VOC Member Last Online: Jun 10th, 2023 18:18 Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Cambridge View Photos By: 345DL	How To: Replace Heater Fan Blower Motor A common fault on 240s is the heater blower motor burning out. There are a few guides online as to how to do it, but none for cars without aircon (which is the majority here, I am quite certain!). I did the job a few weeks ago, and took some detailed pictures along the way, so I thought a decent write-up was in order. A warning though: I am a lawyer not a mechanic, so this is not a difficult job by any stretch of the imagination, but it is time consuming and often frustrating. I took two days to complete it, day 1 removal, and day 2 replacement. The first step is to remove the front seats, it makes access so much easier. They each unbolt with four 13mm nuts, and an electrical connector under each for the heated seats and seat belt warnings. Then take the felt under the dash out on both sides, and also both plastic panels which hide the centre console. Remove the front floor vents from both sides, which attach with two little clips. You will get very familiar with these little clips as this job progresses! There's a bolt below too which needs to be removed, which holds the heater box onto a bracket. Loosen the ducts that take the air to the rear, just unscrew the single screw which holds the duct to the heater box. From this point, the Haynes manual suggests that you put hose clamps on the hoses which go from the engine bay to the heater, or drain the coolant system. I could not get the hoses off the heater matrix, and so Bugjam1999 advised that actually leaving the heater matrix in place and just removing the whole dashboard was an easier job. So…I trusted his advice and followed precisely the guidance on this incredibly useful site: http://cleanflametrap.com/dash.html It is very accurate, and really it is not a difficult job, and here are some pictures to prove it. I took photos of all the electrical connectors so I would not go wrong when reconstructing. This is behind the instrument cluster. I had to break the anti-tamper seal on my speedo, which was reassuring in that I could prove it had never been replaced! You accumulate rather a lot of plastic: Emptied: Loose: Out and in the spare room Meanwhile, the scene in the car So time for a closer look at what we actually need to do. The heater fan sits inside this beige box The beige box is made up of two halves, held together by little metal clips along the spine, as you can see in the picture above. What we are able to do is to split this box open whilst it is still in place in the car, just enough to be able to pull the old heater fan out, and replace it. So the next job is to ping off all the little metal clips. There are about 5 at the front all the way down, and 5 at the back. It requires a lot of contortion to flick them all off with a screwdriver, and you are bound to lose some down a black hole in the car, but life will go on. Here are a few of mine off, the easiest and most visible ones first You also need to disconnect these supporting brackets for the heater box on both sides, just the bolts that attach to the scuttle will do. These are quite awkward to get at. After you have got all the clips off, then you need to separate the two halves just enough to pull the fan out, but to do that you need to jiggle the heater box down from the scuttle . It takes a lot of doing, shoving, moving, pulling and generally breaking your back and knees. Here is mine beginning to give, and showing the first glimpse of the offending fan And free It’s pretty leafy in there! The fan itself is wired by red, green and blue wires directly to the different speeds on the fan switch on the centre console as you can see below, and also earthed to the heater valve. The fan is now clear and out of the car The next job is to swap the mounting blades from the car to the new fan. I failed miserably at getting the rubber lugs through the holes, so eventually had to resort to some drastic Stanley knife action, followed by a bit of reparative resin. You may have better luck than me! The mounting blades only fit one way, so be careful – they slot into cut-outs on the inside of the heater box. The blade at the front does not have a 'foot', so it's quite easy to work out how it fits. So we are now halfway, and as Haynes would say, refitting is a reversal of removal! Getting the fan back in is a bit of trial and error, but it eventually goes in. However, closing the heater box is quite tricky, and takes a lot of time. The heater matrix is heavy and droops down, so needs to be coaxed up to its precise position inside the heater box so that it closes properly, a long heavy screwdriver gives just about enough leverage. Take care when closing the heater box though that all your flaps have seated properly in their holes. Test all the levers on the heater controls for goodness sake, before putting the car back together! One of mine was not seating properly, so I had to have another session of flicking all the little clips off and correcting the fault. Before full re-assembly of the dash, do just test the new fan to make sure it’s not a dud. Mine was fine, so I proceeded to put all this stuff back together You will see that I rather anally put all the bolts, buts and clips in an egg crate, and labelled what they all were. Believe me, when re-fitting everything on day 2 I was very glad I had done that as I was scratching my head quite a lot even though I knew where things were supposed to go! So there you go, a good weekend’s work and the heating heart of the 240 restored back to full health again. Your knees will take a week to recover. __________________ Current Volvos: 1977 343 DL Vario; 1979 343 DL; 1980 345 DL; 1982 Volvo 245 GLT; 1985 340 DL Vario; 2014 V40 R-Design D4

Oct 17th, 2015, 14:25	#3
hennabm Senior Member Last Online: Apr 6th, 2024 14:09 Join Date: Mar 2015 Location: Edinburgh	Thank you for the write up and pictures. Seems like Volvo took the fan and built the car around it. __________________ 1989 240DL estate 1982 323i 2012 Punto Easy 1.4 2010 116d 2011 X3 3.0d

Oct 18th, 2015, 08:29	#4
Velorum VOC Member Last Online: Apr 17th, 2023 20:49 Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Newquay	Great write up and photos! Somewhere there is a photo guide that shows how to do it without dismantling the dash - though you have to cut through some if the structure at the side if the footwell I quite agree with the above comments - its one of the more annoying design flaws of the 200 series that the whole dash seems to be built around the fan unit (I would add the wiring route for the estate tailgate and position of the fuse box to that!) and its something that I have never felt up to attempting. On the one 240 Ive had where the fan called it a day I bought a 12v demister / portable heater unit that I plugged into the cigarette lighter socket! If I needed to resolve this kind of thing now I think it would be a case of paying someone to do it or buying another car! __________________ Past Volvos 340's (2), 240 saloons (4), 240 estates (5), 740 estate (1), 760 saloon (1), 940 saloon (1), 940 estate (1)

Dec 26th, 2015, 18:47	#7
345DL VOC Member Last Online: Jun 10th, 2023 18:18 Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Cambridge View Photos By: 345DL	I think I sliced two sides off each of the rubber lugs so they would slide through the holes. Then I made sure they stayed in place with some Q-bond black resin and glue. I wanted to be sure it wouldn't detach! No, I managed not to have any problems with the earth wire, I think as long as it clears the moving parts of the fan it will be fine. __________________ Current Volvos: 1977 343 DL Vario; 1979 343 DL; 1980 345 DL; 1982 Volvo 245 GLT; 1985 340 DL Vario; 2014 V40 R-Design D4

Dec 29th, 2015, 17:21	#9
345DL VOC Member Last Online: Jun 10th, 2023 18:18 Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Cambridge View Photos By: 345DL	Well done! It's a very satisfying job (after its finished and all working again at least!) I'm sorry, I didn't need to take those wires off, so I don't know from experience. __________________ Current Volvos: 1977 343 DL Vario; 1979 343 DL; 1980 345 DL; 1982 Volvo 245 GLT; 1985 340 DL Vario; 2014 V40 R-Design D4

Oct 17th, 2015, 01:20	#2
volvo always Premier Member Last Online: Yesterday 21:02 Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Midlands.	Great write up thanks I have to do mine sometime as the fan has been dead for 3 years Why oh why did Volvo put it there? I'm sure the 740 fan was behind the passenger side glovebox so far easier. James

Oct 20th, 2015, 07:12	#5
honestjoe MY 240 DRIVES ME! Last Online: Apr 17th, 2024 07:41 Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: ashford kent View Photos By: honestjoe	Oh the memories!..well done.hj

Dec 26th, 2015, 18:37	#6
Honest989 New Member Last Online: Mar 3rd, 2024 10:40 Join Date: Feb 2015 Location: Camberley	345dl thank you for the write up. One of the replies is talking about the Cutting method of replacing the fan but, as an FYI, that method is for air-conditioned Volvos which were primarily in the states and Canada - they got the 'combined unit' which is a different thing to the 'standard unit' everyone outside of those markets got. To the OP, did you slice the rubber lugs in half and then reglue them? What did you use to glue it back together (I have the same problem) Did you have any issues with the earth wire? It seems to stick out a bit on the new fan.

Dec 29th, 2015, 17:06	#8
Honest989 New Member Last Online: Mar 3rd, 2024 10:40 Join Date: Feb 2015 Location: Camberley	OP I'm back again! Do you know how to get the control wires back into their plastic swivelling holders? (you may not have had to do this as you did yours in situ. Unfortunately, I had to go the whole hog and pull the unit. It took about two hours to get the heater hoses off...... Never again. Good news though - at least the fan works! Wooooo!

Jan 21st, 2016, 21:04	#10
BassplayerSteve Junior Member Last Online: Nov 8th, 2017 14:02 Join Date: Jun 2015 Location: Wakefield	I hope my fan doesn't die! that's a lot of work to get to the fan - thanks for the write up & pics, very informative.

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