About couple months ago the A/C blower began failing intermittently. Usually upon the second engine start after a long drive. Give it few hours of rest or overnight and it works no issues. Sometimes it restarted upon hitting a speed bump or a pothole (seriously).

At the time couldn’t find a new blower in stock so I ordered just the regulator (Mahle, ABR6300S) and replaced it. Royal pain. I cleaned the blower casing and the motor which had the axis rusted and was spinning with some resistance.

I did measure and compare the impedance on the various terminals of the regulator and the old one read 30-50% more than the new one.

Nevertheless, in went the new regulator and the problem seemed to be gone until a week ago when the previous symptoms came back again.

I got a ‘Matrix Pro’ replacement blower which was the only one available - especially with the ongoing skirmishes in the Middle East.

Upon removing the old blower I was surprised to find water in the front LH corner of the blower casing!

Further inspection and a heap of back pain resulted in noticing that water seem to be creeping in from the baffle intake.

Anyhow, I ended up reusing the old blower casing because the Matrix one had the screw tunnels so deep that my 50mm torx bits couldn’t reach. I also reused the old 3 rubber cushions dampening the blower motor because the new ones are too soft (useless) and made from thinner rubber.

The new blower works like a charm, very powerful.

The above is FYI to whomever might find themselves in a similar situation.

Now, regarding that baffle bringing in water, my suspicion is with the drain below it on the outside that could have been clogged with dirt. Watch this space for further update.

Also if you need to comfortably reach those 5 T15 screws holding the blower , you’ll need a 90deg bit holder and some patience. Also to put the screws back in, I used a fabric tape to temporarily hold the screw on the torx bit. You don’t need to pull back the floor carpet btw, and it’s best you don’t to avoid risk of the blower screw falling down and disappearing.

Photos are below.


Water in blower casing


Rusted axis/bearing


Screw tunnel too deep


Suggested method to reinstall the screws, make a hole through the cloth tape, then put through it the screw (sticky side the other way to secure the tape to the bit/bit extension), then insert and tighten the screw and pull firmly the bit to rip the tape off the screw cap

 

Drains are important. Sunroof and cowl/firewall primarily affected by debris. Weed-eater string and rinse water work well to clear.

 

Your next, immediate job is to remove the front battery, battery tray and cabin air intake and clean that part of the scuttle until you can eat your dinner from it.

 

I cleaned that region sans the cabin air intake, it was very dirty indeed. It came back as new, yes that squeaky clean, but alas didn't think of the air intake bit.

 

Eagerly awaiting a post about cabin air smell😂

Joking aside, at least you know where it is now 😉

 

FWIW adding magnetism to your torx driver will hold those fasteners just-a-fine.

I've found that a mirror and bright flashlight makes seeing where those annoyingly small fasteners are + getting them back in their respective homes much less a pain.

Not to be confused with being enjoyable... But who wants to be twisted around upside down to do this?