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What is the name of this "cover panel" part? Is it safe for the "foam" to be wet?
Hello,
I have C230 Kompressor, year 2000.
While trying to fix a blower motor that's doesn't seem to turn on, I removed this "panel" located at the passenger front.
It covers the area where the blower motor fan is located.
It has a foam attached to it. As you can see, the foam was wet for unknown reason and is in pretty bad shape.
Questions:
1) What is the official name of this "cover panel" part and its "foam" part? I'm asking to see if I can find a new/used part online.
2) Any idea where the water could have come from?
3) Can I still use this old panel safely?
Thank you! Now I just need to figure out where that hose is and if it's easy to access and clean it, as this is likely the root cause of my
blower motor not turning on for the last few weeks.
A few day ago, I was driving and suddenly at low speed with the heat turned on to warm up the natural air coming in (but without the blower motor working).
Not sure if that was a good idea... but then suddenly the blower motor worked for a few seconds, as if something got unclogged then stopped working. Then
a smell of burned wires appeared for several minutes.
Anyway, after some research online and via forums, I suspected my blower motor regulator needed replacement, but from your comments the experience above,
and now I am pretty certain.
I also took the opportunity to replace the cabin filter while I removed that panel. The cabin filter was dirty with some debris of leaves and small branches.
A naive question:
So after I removed the panel I took this other photo of the blower motor. It appears "naked", without any protective plastic cover around it.
Not sure if that's how it supposed to be.
Makes sense. I was asking because while watching online videos on how to remove the blower motor, many cars I saw had some sort of black plastic cover around it, like in this clip:
So based on the links you provided, cleaning the hose doesn't seem impossible but it's also not that easy especially if first timer with all the screws, bolts, tabs, especially when some of which might be hard to remove... By easy I mean like a 20 minutes job, I'll probably need a few hours.
Since it's winter and cold right now and that I have to do it on the street (I don't have a garage)... I'm undecided if I'll do it myself or have it done at the store. I'll probably shop for prices to see if it's not too expensive.
Have you ever done it yourself? Did it take long?
Regarding that foam that's attached to the cover, do you know if it's okay to wash it with laundry soap?
mine (2000 C280, W202) was also soaked. I removed the entire foam, as falling apart as a result of it being wet, and didnt want mold to start forming. You can use various other types of foam ...under carpet type or any other, or just leave it bare. Make sure you clean out the engine bay (passenger side) you'll surely find dirt, debris, and local shrubbery, as well as the area's at the bottom of the windshield area, the plastic pieces come out very easily, water needs a clear path, or it backs up into the car
Have you ever done it yourself? Did it take long?
Regarding that foam that's attached to the cover, do you know if it's okay to wash it with laundry soap?
I replaced that hose with silicone one, 3 years ago,
it's not that difficult to do it, around 20 minutes i believe,
I didn't try to clean that spongy foam,,
i think, it can be washed, but depends if it still in good thick condition..
It's easier to clean the clog from the top. At the bottom corners of the windshield you can access the tray where water collects. It's been a long time but I stumbled into it quite easily and noticed it was holding water. I used a screwdriver to poke through the clogged drain at the bottom on the passenger side and the water rushed through and out the bottom of the car. My interior stopped getting wet after that.
An acorn had somehow gotten in there and was clogging it up.
Today's update:
I've left that panel to dry, and it's almost dried!
Now, my next Qs will be out of scope for this thread and I will likely post elsewhere but since they're closely related, I will post here as well so it minimizes searches for future folks with similar issues.
So I removed the blower motor part alongside with a metal piece that has bunch of "pins" on one side. That part is attached to the blower motor by by red/blue wires (see photos).
I've cleaned all the parts, and the motor fan is spinning fine.
Q1: Is that metal chunk what people refer to as blower Motor regulator or resistor?
Q2: Do the wires looks good / bad ?
Q3: I'm going to make a guess that it is the metal piece (or it's wires) that's not working fine, and simply buy a new replacement part.
How do I disconnect the wires or separate that piece out from the blower motor so I can install the new part? (I know sounds like very stupid question...)
Do I need special tools? It doesn't seem like I can separate the old and replace with the new solely by hands...
Thanks!
3. tug the wires until they come off their relative tabs on the resistor
test motor by connecting the red and blue wires directly to 12v (you can use your cars battery if you have nothing else). if fan spins, then the problem was probably the resistor. this is also a good way to know if your motor needs replacing anyway: it will make weird noises or struggle to turn
3. tug the wires until they come off their relative tabs on the resistor
test motor by connecting the red and blue wires directly to 12v (you can use your cars battery if you have nothing else). if fan spins, then the problem was probably the resistor. this is also a good way to know if your motor needs replacing anyway: it will make weird noises or struggle to turn
Sulaco, thank you, I will try connecting to the battery this week!.
Should I disconnect the battery from the engine beforehand?
And should connect the red wire to the "+" terminal of the battery and the blue to the "-" terminal, or it doesn't matter?
Just want to be sure to avoid a short circuit or something...
For reference to future DIYers with little knowledge on electrical stuff like myself, below is a close up of the blower motor regulator with the blue wire removed from the spade connectors.
Note that depending on rust or corrosion they might be a bit hard to slide them out if you try to pull them away. No need for tools, just use fingers, unless it's too hard.
Last edited by nguyC230; Jan 10, 2021 at 10:24 PM.
Today's update:
So I ran the battery test as suggested by Sulaco.
I just want to make sure I did it correctly.
I had the flat metal part/connector of each wire touching either the + or - pole/terminal of the battery, at several spots since there was some oxydation here and there on the terminals (to make sure).
I tried both with the car turned on and off.
Result: no luck, blower motor didn't run.
If I proceeded correctly, then the blower motor is broken. But any easy way for me to test the regulator too? Jsut in case both are broken...
Update (it's been a while, with the cold here things got slow...): A mechanic tested my blower motor 2 weeks ago and told me he was able to make it work. He said my resistor was blown (that can be seen in the blue discoloration on the previous photos).
So I bought a new resistor from Mahle and reinstalled everything back.
The resistor came with 2 new red/blue wires, but I used the old ones because they looked Ok and one of them was hard to remove anyway from the blower motor and I didn't want to break it.
Result: unfortunately, the fan is still not working, it's still not blowing air. One new difference though: each timeI turn it on, I do hear a "light bump" sound from where the blower motor is located.
Not sure what else could be broken but I'm thinking this: Could it be that the connector of the wire coming from the car, that connects to the 3 pins of the burned resistor (see below photo), might be damaged as well?
If so, what's the official name of that wire/connector part so I may buy it online and search how to replace it?
Last edited by nguyC230; Jan 31, 2021 at 08:26 PM.
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