81 Rabbit Blower Motor Removal

[uzzo2]

I'm going to have to get the blower motor out of this little rabbit. The Bentley manual doesn't have much to say on the subject. Anyone here ever done one? What all has to be torn apart to get to it?

[82vdub]

AC or Non AC car?

[uzzo2]

It has A/C.

[82vdub]

Does this help?

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=12136

[uzzo2]

Does this help?

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=12136

Looks like I need to take the rain guard off and take the top of the cowl off and then the motor can be accessed. Sound about right?

[bscutt]

when you put the plastic cover back on be extremely careful to caulk with good sealer all the way around it. I did not realize mine had been leaking so badly for the last several years.

[uzzo2]

when you put the plastic cover back on be extremely careful to caulk with good sealer all the way around it. I did not realize mine had been leaking so badly for the last several years.

Thanks Bob! What did you use, silicone?

[bscutt]

it's been a very long time and I recently went back to fill in with a variety of things including seam sealer. I think I used silicone when I did it in 2004 or 2005 and that has held up fine. The problem area is under the valve that controls the flapper for the fresh air/recirc. There is a valley under it for the valve arm to move in and I did a terrible job (as I found out this year) sealing it there. Maybe a nice big bead of sealer should go there first before putting the plenum back in. THis year during the floor pan fiasco I bought a can of flex seal and coated the entire inside of the rain tray thinking maybe I had pinholes causing my leaks but the glass of water test showed a massive hole where I describe above. It's now sealed to about 5-10% of what it was so I have a magnetic cover over the hood louvers for when it's parked (keeps the leaves out too this time of year.

Anyway just be sure to seal it up well or you may have a big hole instead of a passenger floor pan.

[uzzo2]

it's been a very long time and I recently went back to fill in with a variety of things including seam sealer. I think I used silicone when I did it in 2004 or 2005 and that has held up fine. The problem area is under the valve that controls the flapper for the fresh air/recirc. There is a valley under it for the valve arm to move in and I did a terrible job (as I found out this year) sealing it there. Maybe a nice big bead of sealer should go there first before putting the plenum back in. THis year during the floor pan fiasco I bought a can of flex seal and coated the entire inside of the rain tray thinking maybe I had pinholes causing my leaks but the glass of water test showed a massive hole where I describe above. It's now sealed to about 5-10% of what it was so I have a magnetic cover over the hood louvers for when it's parked (keeps the leaves out too this time of year.

Anyway just be sure to seal it up well or you may have a big hole instead of a passenger floor pan.

Thanks again Bob. That's what I was thinking too. Before putting the cowl back on. Put a generous bead of silicone right where it sits after cleaning that area and let it smash outward. Just like you were using it to make a gasket with.

[Fatmobile]

I've been using butyl or something like that.
Blac, tarlike but never gets brittle, stays soft.

[uzzo2]

I finally got around to getting this motor out today. The one I bought wasn't anything like the one that was in there. Pretty sure that the one I bought is for a non a/c car. I just oiled the one that was in it since it had oilers on it. I put it all back together and it seems to be doing fine. But just in case, I wrote the numbers off the motor down. I only found 2 out of all the places I checked. And let me say that they aren't cheap. About $150.00 was the best price I found. They seem to almost be non existent. Here are the numbers form the motor in case anyone has any ideas. I believe the Bosch number is 0130062006

The other number which I believe is the VW part # 175.820.021.A

Here is the one I bought.

blower motor.jpg

Here is the one that most closely resembles the one I have. Mine just doesn't have the large resistor on top.

[bscutt]

The one on the bottom is the correct one. The top one doesn't look like it fits any Rabbit I have ever seen. Suspect they sold you the wrong part, maybe for a MK2 or MK3 or Cabrio?. The resistor may not be mounted to the motor, don't think mine had one on it. The speed control resistors are down in the heater box if I recall. If lubing it worked that's great. I believe I replaced mine when I did the heater core just because the whole mess was apart.

[uzzo2]

I drove it to Atlanta and back yesterday. Probably about a 200 mile round trip. It was nice and cool when I left at 4 AM so I didn't run it. It was a little after lunch when I came home. I wanted to run it to make sure it wasn't going to get hot and melt the fuse and the fuse panel like it was doing.

Temps were in the low 70's I'd say. I had to roll the windows down because the A/C had gotten it so cold. I was freezing my arse off. But about an hour and a half later when I pulled into my yard and left it all running. I put my hand down on the fuse panel where that fuse goes and it was nice and cool.

I don't know if it's fixed or not. But it's certainly better than it was. It didn't make any of the screeching noises that I'd been hearing out of it. The only downside was I had to smell the PB Blaster I sprayed in it the whole way. I'd still like to source one if anyone knows where I might find one that isn't 150 bucks.

[bscutt]

$150 seems pretty high. I think I have my old one down in my parts shelf somewhere and it turned out the noise it was making was not the motor bearings but the wheel hitting the plastic housing (mounts had come loose if I recall)
I also parted out an 81 rabbit diesel that was just a mess (left to die in the woods) and don't remember if I grabbed the blower out of that one or not. If I have a good spare to sell I'll let you know. If the lube worked it may work for a long time but I'm not sure how long PB blaster will work as a lube. I like thin motor oil (using a syringe) for motor bearing lube or something that will hang around for a while.

[uzzo2]

$150 seems pretty high. I think I have my old one down in my parts shelf somewhere and it turned out the noise it was making was not the motor bearings but the wheel hitting the plastic housing (mounts had come loose if I recall)
I also parted out an 81 rabbit diesel that was just a mess (left to die in the woods) and don't remember if I grabbed the blower out of that one or not. If I have a good spare to sell I'll let you know. If the lube worked it may work for a long time but I'm not sure how long PB blaster will work as a lube. I like thin motor oil (using a syringe) for motor bearing lube or something that will hang around for a while.

I just used PB blaster to loosen it up. I then took a zoom oiler that I use for oiling motors in the line of my HVAC work. It's just mineral oil in a little bottle with a long thin flexible telescopic plastic tube. I don't know why I keep it since all condenser and blower motors are all sealed now. So I put a generous helping of that along with the blower motor. I'll just run it a while and see how it does.