I Replaced The Blower Motor in My 1990 Volvo 240 DL
And I found Christ Jesus eleven hours in; he revealed himself to me from inside the airbox.
For those who know what this job is and entails, and perhaps are considering doing it themselves, the TL;DR here is basically this:
- You can do it.
- You will have a moment of pure anxiety and despair about 10 hours in, when the entire inside of the car is disassembled and you are questioning if it’s next destination is the junk yard.
- Label every single screw, bolt, fastener you remove and place in a plastic baggie.
- Label every wire and connector with sharpie on masking tape wrapped around it
- Use your driveway to make a 2D map of the parts you have removed — interior stuff closest to you, frame supports farthest from you.
- This took me ~20–24 hours of labor, in total, spread out over Thursday and Friday nights (prep work), Saturday (the day I replaced the motor) and Sunday (when I finished putting it all back together.)
About This Job
For those unfamiliar with this car and its quirks — the car is basically built around the blower motor, and to no surprise, the blower can fail after 30 years or so.
IPD, one of the major distributors of parts for the aging 240, enumerates the failed blower motor in its top 10 issues with 240 Volvos:
The 240 is famous for it’s powerful heater, which according to urban legend can brown a slice of toast in about 30 seconds, however the heater blower motor is buried in the deepest confines of the dash. It’s like they built the car around the heater motor! Fortunately the motors are of decent quality and if you’re lucky you’ll only have to replace it one time while you own the car. Replacing the motor can take 3–4 hours for an experienced mechanic and we’ve heard of reports of it taking all weekend from some beginner do-it yourselfers!
Those brave enough to have taken on this feat corroborate the above:
It was definitely a tremendous, heinous ordeal. — buckthedog, volvo-forums.com
But, if you succeed, you will officially be a “Volvo 240 Stud” according to Rick at straightdope.com:
If you decide to tackle this, you will need probably the whole weekend and lots of tape to label shit. A digital camera will be priceless on this job.
In short the job is not for the faint of heart, but if you do it and succeed, you will be an offical Volvo 240 stud.
Actually Doing It
Basically, read these three pages on cleanflametrap.com several times before taking any action, including making any part purchases:
- Blower motor replacement — 1984 Volvo 244 DL
- 1990 Dash Removal and Replacement
- 1990 Blower Motor Replacement (with Dash Out)
In general, the above literature provides an excellent guide and will be nearly enough to follow to perform this job.
For whatever reason, Art doesn’t encounter nearly as many Torx screws as I did. Please don’t even consider starting this job until you have T25, T30, T35 drivers. You will encounter lots of all three. In total, you will need at least these things:
Parts
- A VDO-PM3512 Blower Motor
- Genuine Volvo Blower Motor Resistor (VOL-1370240)
- Genuine Volvo Blower Fan Wheel, Passenger (VOL-3522198)
- Genuine Volvo Blower Fan Wheel, Driver (VOL-3522197)
- 4x Fan Blade Retaining Clips (Volvo part 686540)
- (Optional) A 4 speed fan switch, if you can source one
- (Optional) HVAC foil tape
- (Optional) assorted interior bulbs for the center console and illuminated switches
- 22–16 gauge butt connectors
- Heat shrink that can fit around a crimped butt connector
Tools
- Butt connector crimping tool
- Wire cutters
- T25-T50 Torx drivers at increments of 5
- Phillips heads of all sizes
- Flat heads of all sizes
- Needle-nose pliers
- A 7–20mm Metric ratchet set
Some Pictures
The Hardest Parts
Most of this job isn’t hard, just time consuming. You need to be diligent about labeling and bagging every single fastener and screw you encounter or else you’ll be totally fucked. That said, there are a few things that stand out to me as being painful:
Removing the shrouds from around the blower is difficult because they are awkwardly shaped and there’s lots of electrical and AC tubing nearby. Rotate the outer shrouds counter-clockwise and then pull them out from below.
The retainer clip for the heater valve cable, on the back of the center console, is difficult to remove and even more difficult to get back on. After breaking mine trying to get it on, I drove up to the Pick ’N’ Pull in Lynnwood, WA to pull one off of a junked 240. The key is to position it correctly prior to using a tool to apply pressure and force it into the slot.
The clips that hold the actual blower blades onto the motor. I suggest to start by bending them slightly — a bit of concave to match the impeller. Press the center of the clip towards the fan blade with a blunt object. Use a small screwdriver to push the clip up into the plastic slot on the blade.
The rubber grommets that hold the defrost ducting to the firewall. Very difficult to press into the hole in the firewall. If you try to use a Phillips head, I guarantee you’ll poke a hole in the nipple part and it’s almost game over. I think the best tool for this is really a wooden dowel, fitted precisely to the diameter of the inside of the grommet.
Things You Should Do While You Are In There
You’ll probably find some worn wires or connectors. Splice them and use a butt connector to repair them. You won’t be in here again hopefully for a long long time.
If you see a bulb, make damn well sure it lights up. If it doesn’t, replace it.
Wash everything you have taken out thoroughly before putting it back in:
Other thoughts
I used some HVAC foil tape to seal any gaps or opening between ducts that I found. This helped to ensure there are no leaks. Unfortunately I didn’t take any pictures of this.
