1990 560SEL trying to find blower that pulls air through in-car temp sensor

[bolomiester]

I'm trying to find the little blower that pulls air through the in-car temp sensor that is mounted in the overhead interior light fixture.

I removed the passenger side carpet, side kick panel and forward access panel. I see lots of stuff but not the blower, nor any sign of the plastic tube that the sensor connects to on the other end.

I've found posts that say it's located behind the glove box, but this car has a passenger side airbag, so there is no glove box.

Does anyone have a clue where this thing is located?

Thanks.

[Elektri]

Mine is to the right of the air bag - all the way to the right and next to the outside fender. Mine is wrapped in grey foam and is about the size of 2 sticks of butter (quite small).

Basically you could remove the air bag, then stare and look to the right and not see it! The foam makes it blend in.

And VERY slow suction of air into it - intake located at the top front center of ceiling. Use a cigarette or smoking burned out match so you can see the smoke get sucked into it. Not strong enough to suck a tissue up against it.

[puzzler]

In my 95 E320 I found the little fan by pulling out the air bag..yes no glove box..Passenger side, and it was directly below the heater outlet vent which is retained with a clip you can compress with a thin screwdriver, then the vent pulls straight out forward..very easily but impossible unless you see the clp! And the fan is right below the vent and can be checked for operation..I was troubleshooting the climate system and wanted to see..Just needed a new blower motor control, then came back 100 % which for a 21 yrs old car I was very pleased! Hope this helps..

[bolomiester]

Thanks for the help, I finally found it! I had to pop out the long trim strip in the coin tray located below the passenger airbag. Behind it were 3 screws. Once removed, the coin tray, with the under dash panel came off. The sensor blower was tucked up next to the main blower, wrapped in foam with a thin metal bracket around the foam held in place with a single screw. I got it out and it was very dirty but when I hooked it up to 12 volts it did work. A combination of canned air, shop vac and electronics cleaner got it nice and clean. I put everything back together, did the "smoke test", as suggested, and the air seems to flow well.

Thanks for the great help!