MB W114 blower fan

tc20

Hi all,
i noticed yesterday morning that my blower fan didnt work. I haven't needed to use it for quite some time, and it had been fine last time i used it (3speed fan, knob mounted centrally on the dash).
I checked the fuse, which also governs the brake lights, and it was fine. I replaced it anyway (8A), and still no juice.
I normally let the old girl warm up for a few minutes before driving, and even without the blower it doesnt take long for the screen to clear and the cabin to be toasty. However it is something i'd like to have sorted before the onset of the frosty mornings. Any ideas?

3ps

this is a massive dash out job and if you can't fix the motor, they are €€€ to buy.

3ps

FYI I had the same problem and used it throughout last year including the winter with no real problems.

MercMad

Yeah its a common problem and total pain I believe !

It IS possible that the Motor is just stuck and a gentle shove may get it going. I have also heard folk can apply a spray lub to the bushes, but it seems impossible to get in there from what I have seen !

Do you have a drawing of the area ? If not I can email you one, just mail me !

tc20

Bugger

tc20

Ben, IF its just that the motor is stuck, any ideas on how i can get at it to give it a nudge?

@3ps - both yesterday morning, and this morning, it did just mist up a little bit, and by the time the motor was warm enough to run, it had pretty much cleared the screen anyway, but its just the thoughts of cold & frosty mornings that have me concerned

3ps

I had a method for the cold mornings. If there was frost I would scrape it off. If it was just condensation I had a rubber window wiper and I wiped all the windows. If you wipe them right they are dry and will stay pretty much clear. But of course some mornings they condensation would form quickly again. The trick was to start the car, demister on, wipe the windows dry and get moving ASAP so the wind would dry them off.

Inside... keep the windscreen clean and have one of those chamois blocks you can get in Halfords for wiping. I found that the natural airflow through the vents was very strong and it would clear completely within 1-2 miles but it wasn't always perfect and of course would advise caution!!!.

From what I can tell, you can remove the vent under the windscreen wipers (exterior) and get access to the motor but they might be rivetted on. There are some merc forums on the web (US based) where this is discussed in detail and these guys basically spend 20hours dissasembling dash and all components to get at the blower, but they do have to remove aircon unit too.

This was highlighted to me as THE big fault with these cars and when I got mine I made sure it worked and after 3 weeks it just stopped!!!!! I was devastated!!

Dades

3ps wrote:

This was highlighted to me as THE big fault with these cars and when I got mine I made sure it worked and after 3 weeks it just stopped!!!!! I was devastated!!

Nightmare!

Blue850

Mine blows out the same speed for 1st and 3rd setting and slows down for 2nd...trouble ahead methinks

tc20

@ 3ps - thanks for that info. I posted about this on mercedesshop.com which is a good forum too, and yeah, the guys there can be v technical, and very helpful too. One of them suggested that IF its just that the blower is stuck, to try and see if i can turn the blades using a coathanger thru' the vents in the dash. I'll give it a shot in the afternnon. Failing that, it looks like the motor is shot, which gives me 2 options - (a) a lot of labour and a lot of money (those motors ain't cheap) or (b) live with it... Option b is looking good :rolleyes:

@ Blue850 - it could be trouble ahead. IIRC when my blower was working it did similar to yours

I'll keep you posted on how it goes, or doesn't go

MercMad

I think the others have pretty much covered it. I looked at all of that on one of those US forums that 3PS sent me. It does look like its buried but they Yanks tend to overdo the folklore a bit too....................

Apparantly it takes 3 hours to take out the speedo, rev counter and dash wood on a Pagoda according to them.......................took me 40 minutes !

I'll take a look at whatever manuals I have and see if it shows anything !