2/14/05

If the guide below does not answer all of your questions, or if you have any suggestions, feel free to email me. I will try to include every single problem I ran into while doing this in my write-up, but you may have a different experience. This was a lot simpler than I thought it would be however, so if you have even basic mechanical experience I'm sure you can handle this. No "BMW special tools" were needed.

Jesten Tice
sqbimmer@gmail.com

Basic tools needed:

Various sockets and screwdrivers
Channel locks
The "tool" pictured in step 8, or something similar
A friend if you need one

Step 1.
First thing I did was remove my plenum cover. This would be a good time to replace this part if it looks like the older one below.

TIP: To get the ends of the velum cover out (and back in later) from under the windshield, it helps to have a friend hold the hood about midway between fully open and closed.

Step 2.
Then, loosen up your wiring harness all the way across your hood. There are a few screws and plastic caps you will have to remove along the way. The rest of it is held by a few clips here and there. Just get it so you can pull it away from your blower motor a bit. This will give you some more room to work with when removing the blower motor and putting the new one in.

Step 3.
Remove the plenum. It is held on with only 3 bolts highlighted in the two images below.

Step 4.
Remove the clip on the end of the cable that actuates the door to let air into the blower motor box. This is what the clip looks like; you will find it on the driver's side of the blower motor box.

Step 5.
Now you are ready to take the cover off the blower motor. There are a few things involved in this step, please refer to the images. As you will notice in the image below, the door letting air into the blower motor box on the passenger side is open (A arrow). To close this, you will need to make sure your fan speed setting inside the vehicle is in the OFF position. The image below also shows the 4 clips that hold the cover on (B). Once all that is complete, the cover will slide downward after applying a bit of force.

Step 6.
With the cover off, remove the electrical connections.

Step 7.
You now need to unclip the box that is on the driver side of the blower motor box. Loosening this box will make it easier to maneuver the blower motor out of its housing. You will find them around the area highlighted in the image below. Sorry I didn't get a picture of the clips before I loosened them, I was anxious to get this job done with. But you will see them pretty deep in there.

You can see the benefit in the image below. It really plays in when removing/installing this thing as it literally comes down to millimeters of clearance.

Step 8.
The blower motor is held on with a single strap in the middle. To get this strap off, you really got to get down in there. Since I didn't have a tool with a hook on the end strong enough to unclip this, I created this! This pair of vise-grips with a bolt sandwiched in there did this task amazingly well.

Step 9.
Remove the blower motor.

If you are installing a USED blower motor: If you plan to remove the old one intact and are unable to pull it without breaking the blades, refer to the image in step 10 to see what metal needs to be bent in order to give you more room. This will need to be done if you want to install a used blower motor anyway.

If you are installing a NEW blower motor: If you are installing a new blower motor that doesn't have the fan blades attached (where you have to attach them inside the blower motor housing), then you do not need to bend up your car's precious metal. You can simply break the fan blades off the old blower motor.

As you can see in the image below, I just broke the fan blades off since I was kind of upset with my old blower motor for not providing me hot or cold air for a LONG time. I already tested the old blower motor to make sure that it was defective, so I felt no sorrows doing this; it made it much easier, and also made me feel much better :P.

Step 10.
Install your new (or used) blower motor.

As you can see, I am installing a used blower motor, and it is near impossible to get it in there without using a pair of trusty channel locks to MAKE ROOM. This is an image of the new (used) blower motor installed. I do not have any instruction for putting fan blades onto a new blower motor. However, if you made it this far I assume you have the ability to figure it out for yourself.

TIP: See the tape hanging off the wires pointed out in the first picture? Cut off that excess. You do not want to possibly have a problem with this later on down the road. Also, make sure the fan blades do not hit the electrical connections.

Step 11.
Put it all back together. Try not to have as many extra parts as I did!