The blower motor in my '82 300td stopped working this spring, which honked me off a bit -- after all it had only 235,000 miles on it...

Anyway, after checking the price of a new blower motor ($140-$150), I fell back on my words to live by -- when in doubt, cheap out!

Opening the motor up, I discovered the brushes were worn down to nubs. I did a web search for motor brushes and stumbled across Schunk Graphite Technologies, a division of the German-based multinational Schunk Group. Hey -- the place is in the Milwaukee area, my home town! So with the stub of one of my old motor brushes in hand, I went a-calling...

To my pleasant surprise, they agreed to duplicate my brushes for me. One catch, though -- I had to order at least $100 worth. That adds up to 24 brushes at $4.17 each.

The motor isn't exactly meant to be disassembled and reassembled repeatedly, but without exceptional difficulty, I got the replacement brushes installed and the motor back together...AND IT WORKS GREAT! I also smoothed out a groove in the commutator and oiled the bearings while I had it all apart. I've NEVER experienced a W123 climate control system with a fully functional motor, it seems...they can move some air when they're working right.

I shared my triumph with some other W123 diesel enthusiasts I corespond with, and they snapped up the brushes remaining from my order of 24 -- in fact, I had more requests than I had brushes. Someone suggested I make up some more and charge $15 for each pair.

Well, I wouldn't charge $15. $12, maybe. And I'd need to know if there's more interest in the effort than the three guys whose requests for brushes I couldn't fulfill.

Sooo...Is anybody out there interested in some replacement brushes for their W123 blower motors for $12 per pair plus shipping? If I can find a demand for nine pair I'll order up another batch. Shipping would be via priority mail, $3.85 if my local USPS clerk is to be believed.

I need commitments for six more pairs. If that happens, I can break even and will order a second run of brushes from Schunk. Otherwise...Yahoo! I brought my dead blower motor back to life!

Russ M
'82 300td
'82 300cd