green_e320

I am certain that earlier last year I had seen posts regarding cabin fans that will not go beyond low fan speed despite the indication on the dash that the fan is at high speed.

I cannot remember whether they were germaine to my specific Benz (1997 E320) or not, but I've now lost all but lowest fan speed and it's pretty darned cold to be running only lowest fan/heater speed in the Pittsburgh area these past few weeks!

I can't find the thread via a search at this time. Can anyone re-post or does anyone remember that partucular thread?

Inquiry also posted in W124 as I believe some of them had resistor packs as well.

Thanks,

aglasgow

The part you need is the blower motor regulator. Do a part check with your dealer or online; if you are told that you need to replace the regulator AND the blower motor, you have the discontinued system (they upgraded it in '97). If that is the case, simply buy a blower motor regulator from a 97 S Class sedan, clip the wiring harness off of both the old and new regulators, and replace your old wiring harness onto your new regulator. Plug it back in and you should be good to go.

The blower motor regulator attached to the blower motor housing by two screws. The entire assembly is in the passenger side footwell area underneath the plastic panel that forms the "roof" of the footwell.

An old post of mine lists the part numbers you need and more detailed instructions so you might be able to do a post search and find that. Even without it, it's pretty easy. Good luck.

gabbypig

My wife's car has the same problem ('98 w210) and your work-around fix information is great. Should save me $600!

A couple more questions before I buy the regulator from the 140.

Are the wire colors the same for the W210 and the 140?

Do the regulators look the same?

I assume you simply cut and splice (solder, crimp or heat shrink) the new regulator wires to the old harness wires?

Confirming the 140 regulator part number: 140-821-83-51. Correct?

Any other details would be appreciated. I,ve worked on cars for years, but would hate to spend about $200 bucks for the new part and mess it up.

The winters in Hawaii are hot and so is my wife (if you know what I mean)

Feel free to e-mail me directly at markjohnson@hawaii.rr.com

Thanks in advance and Aloha.

green_e320

Thank you for the ideas and the swapping. I will check out the situation as you suggest.

Take care.

aglasgow

Hey Gabby, that correct part number is 140-821-83-51 so you're right on track!

The wire colors are the same so no worries there. The wire lengths are different though so make sure you line up the old and new regulators and trim to the appropriate size. The W210 block connector clips into the footwell edge just under the glove box so the wires from the regulator are about 10 inches longer than that on the W140. You'll see what I mean when you line them up but it's no problem.

The regulators look almost exacly alike. The W140 regulator is a little larger but it fits right in no problem. I bought mine online for about $150 bucks and already had the crimp connectors I needed so total savings were over $600.

Two last notes; the new regulator should come with heat sink paste already applied but if it doesn't, be sure to get some (also called dielectric paste) otherwise it'll burn up in time. The pasted conducts heat between the regulator and the blower motor housing. Also, the regulator is attached to the housing with two "star" head screws. These screws are easy to strip out of the housing so don't torque too heavily when reinstalling.

I've had mine in since the summer and it's working great. It's so nice to have full force heat/AC back!

Good luck!

aglasgow

Hey Gabby, I just noticed that you said your wife's car is a '98. You've probably already done so but you should check to see if you already have the upgraded blower assembly. If you do, you don't need the workaround and can just by a W210 regulator our of the MB parts system.

gabbypig

This is great information you have provided.

Regarding the new blower motor assmembly issue, I'm frankly not sure yet. When I have searched for replacement blower regulators at on-line sites (3 different ones) they have inlcuded notations that the new regulator requires a new blower and mounting bracket. So I am assuming at this point that it is the original design.

Additionally, the fact that my symptoms are indentical to those of yours and many others who have had the same symptoms and associated fix, leads me to further believe that it is the old design.

Regardless, I will confirm before buying.

Thanks again.

Gabby

gabbypig

I was able to get access to the blower motor regulator with no problems to confirm the part number before I buy a replacement.

However the numbers on the regulator don't seem to match any in the previous threads.

The numbers on my par t are: "9 140 010 179" and "90.943.02.385". Says made in France.

Any ideas what this translates into?

Thanks,

Gabby

aglasgow

not sure Gabby but my OEM regulator also had a bunch of numbers on it that didn't correspond to anything I could discern. Interesting that yours was made in France though; my OEM one was made in Germany.

In any case, I think you're good if you've correctly entered your VIN in the parts search and identified that you have the old system. The earlier part # I gave is the correct one for the workaround.

Also, forgot to give props to Benzmac for this workaround solution. He was the one on this board who turned me onto to the fix in the first place.

gabbypig

A big thanks to aglasgow!

The work-around repair you described above worked perfectly.

I very much appreciate your time in sharing this fix and answering all my questions. You saved me big bucks and I am very grateful and so is my wife.

I received the part via DHL today( $175 Internet vs. $400 at dealer) and installed it tonight. The whole process took me less than an hour and was exactly as descibed.

Also, thanks to Benzmac for sharing this fix in the first place.

Mahalo and Aloha,

Gabby

mister mers

Now these regulators around $60 on eBay
100% compatible with 1996-1999 W210 and come with thermal paste.

mbmaniac

Yes, on eBay they have replacements (made in china ) for $45, worked for my 97 E320

mister mers

Not an original BEHR original but works on w210 96