Front blower replacement- anyone done it?

[A993LAD]

Hi guys when my car was last serviced they said that the right-hand front blower has stopped working.

It took me months to source a new one online but I have it now and decided to tackle the job today.

I have been following the excellent instructions on pelican parts

https://www.pelicanparts.com/techar...t/59-ELEC-Front_Blower_Motors_Replacement.htm

and all was going well to the point where I need to remove the firewall.

According to the pelican instructions once I have removed the screws retaining the firewall I should be able to lift it straight out.

Unfortunately my car seems to have a cable from the wiring loom running straight through a grommet hole in the base of the fuse compartment (which is integral to the firewall itself). The car in the pelican parts instruction doesn't seem to have this section of the wiring loom so I wonder if American cars don't have it and UK cars do.

The rest of the wiring loom all comes into the fuse box from a big gap in the side and doesn't prevent the removal of the firewall but this one single section of loom going through a hole in the bottom is really creating a problem and it can't be unplugged at the top or the bottom has it just goes straight back into the rest of the Loom.

He looks so easy in the American photos to just lift out the firewall move it away and then you have access to the blower fan covers but with my car I can't see any way of removing the firewall.

Any advice or assistance from people who have done this before will be gratefully received. When the service technicians replace the pollen filters do they have to go through this whole rigmarole?

 

[deMort]

I've removed several bulkheads over the years and that wiring is not there .. i suspect it's an aftermarket alarm system ..

You will need to look under the dash and trace that wire loom .. there should be some sort of connection to an alarm that can be unplugged and fed through the hole so that you can remove the bulkhead panel .

It will possibly be behind the bonnet release handle panel . .

Worst way is a cut and rejoin of each wire .. i'm guessing at least 10 wires there so that should be avoided if possible .


We don't remove the bulkhead to change the pollen filters ... that's only done for heater box work such as the evaporator .

Basic rule of thumb .. Porsche use a fabric based insulation tape around their wiring .. aftermarket and its plastic insulation tape ... if you see this .. its an item that has been added .

Porsche instructions for bulkhead removal are below for what they are worth ..

 

[A993LAD]

Cheers for the speedy reply fella, much appreciated.

I wondered about alarm system. But that bit that goes through the hole comes out of a main loom (you can just see it in the corner of the pic), routes through the hole and then connected straight back into another bit of the main loom not far beneath the hole???

I'm baffled how they managed to do that if it was aftermarket guys splicing it in after construction? And why run it under the fuses and out through that inconvenient hole when it looks to me like you could more easily run it round the side or back of the fusebox/firewall to reach the other side? You can see a second hole that's not used so I wonder if that was the first attempt but didn't reach the right spot? Is it possible they took the firewall out, spliced all their wires into the loom below and when they put it back found their wires too short and couldn't reach the bit above when routing round the side? So they just drilled a hole and fed it up through the firewall and spliced into the top bit? Bet that's how it happened. How can I tell for sure it's definitely the alarm? It looks very integrated at both ends.

Bloody alarm system are a PITA! wish I could totally remove my alarm/immobiliser as I just know it's going to fail one day and leave me stranded!

Also, how do you access the pollen filters without moving the firewall? I've never accessed them myself but thought the cover had to come off the front of the blower to get them out?

 

[deMort]

It's certainly possible its an extra add on that was done by an OPC back in the day and they took a shortcut to get some wiring into the bonnet area .

I can say after removing one or two of these over the years that the wiring loom for whatever it is is not located in that position .. as per the instructions ..

It mentions nothing about disconnecting something under the dash to remove the bulkhead ... and i certainly have not had to do so .

pollen filter replacement ..

you remove the twist , round bolt .. well it's like a ten pence piece .. you lift the panel it located upwards then you have access to it .. looking for instructions on this atm so ill edit ..


EDIT .. i gave up on Porsche instructions and went for a video instead ..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJBBA6tFHlc

 

[A993LAD]

cheers again. I've actually edited my post above with more theories/questions if you get a chance to look.

 

[deMort]

PM sent .

 

[deMort]

I forgot to add after the call .. i'm just outside of brighton .. you are sussex so if you need help and can drive the car to me i'll give you a hand .. weekends only but its foc .

 

[A993LAD]

PM sent .

Cheers Iain, thanks for the call and the helpful tips. Looks like I'll be back in the workshop tomorrow for round 2. Will update here once I've broken everything and shipped the car back to my local Indy!!!

 

[deMort]

You will be fine with a cut and rejoin in a different route .. just be careful if there's a bunch of black wires as they Will be an immobiliser wire cut .

That's more for anyone else reading this .

 

[A993LAD]

So the latest update on this is that I have now got the firewall out and then moving on to to hopefully remove and replace the broken blower fan.

I will update this thread and add a few photos in case anybody is interested.

As you can see in the attached photos I had to cut through all the wires for the offending alarm system cable that they had lazily routed through instead of around the fuse box! As advised I have marked all 11 wires so that I could potentially reconnect this system.

But to be honest I have always wanted to remove this Old Alarm immobiliser system as I think it is a weak point and a potential future disaster so I'm starting a separate thread on that.

 

[A993LAD]

So a quick final update the job is done

The Old blower is out the new blower is fitted and and I've tested it and it works fine so all good.

A couple of things worth mentioning for anybody doing the job

Firstly it is quite difficult pulling the Old motor out using the technique of two screwdrivers pushed into the slots to release the tabs instead of buying the correct Porsche tool but it can be done just needs quite a bit of of careful manoeuvring and jiggling about.

Secondly when the new fan has been pushed into place I think it really is worth testing it with and without the pollen filter before putting the cover and the firewall back into place. The alignment of the motor fan and pollen filter is fairly critical as the tolerances between each are very close. When I first tested the new one without the pollen filter it was rubbing slightly as it wasn't fully aligned and I had to locate it better to ensure there was no rubbing of the the fan on the casing. Then when I replaced the pollen filter there was a high pitch whining noise when I tested it because the pollen filter was catching slightly on the front of the fan blades. A bit of adjustment got everything aligned perfectly and I've tested it a few times to make sure all is good so the cover can now be replaced.

It was clear that the old fan had been fouling against the edge of the pollen filter for some time and you can see some wear on the fan blades in the photo of the old fan below.

Sadly I can't put the firewall back in and start reusing the car because I've cut through so many alarm cables to get access that I now have the major job of removing all the old alarm wiring and disconnecting the immobiliser.