Dear edl100:

Thank you for your help. do you know roughly how much is the new motor? and where is it located? Is it difficult to replace? How about the carbon brush, where is it located? Thanks!

Which model of Mercedes do you have? On the 124, the motor is hidden under the hood underneath the wiper motor. On the 1323, I think you have to remove the dashboard. The motor will be somewhere near the AC evaporator, near the dashboard.

The carbon brushes are not brushes at all, but sticks of solid carbon inside the motor, where they rub around and around the armature, working with the magnetic field to spin the motor.Each brush is held in place by a spring.

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Semibodacious Transmogrifications a Specialty

1990 300D 2.5 Turbo sedan 171K (Rudolf)
1985 300D Turbo TD Wagon 219K (Remuda)

"Time flies like and arrow, yet fruit flies like a banana"
---Marx (Groucho)

'89 420 SEL blower motor: Where can I get brushes??
Dwight

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Dwight

The replacement of the blower motor isn't too bad. After removing the small trim strip at the top edge of the knee bolster, and then removing the knee bolster itself (passenger side), there are just a couple of bolts to let the motor housing open up, and then to drop down the motor and "squirrel cage" assembly. I didn't see a good way to open up the motor, so you might have to buy a replacement motor.

This will sound "kludgey", but when my motor started getting intermittent (not running at all, or running for brief periods), I found that inserting a couple of small shims below the brush assembly served to make it run again. This is hard to describe, but there was a small gap in the plastic housing around the brushes (below the brushes, when the motor is oriented as it is in the car). I used some small plastic screw anchors I had laying around, simply pressed into this gap. My theory as to why it helped is that it possibly raised the brushes slightly to a less worn area of the armature. All I know is that it worked, and it cost nothing. If the motor starts going bad down the road, I'll decide to replace it then. In the meantime, it has now been working fine for a couple of months.

rschleicher
1991 420SEL - 171,000 miles

I've found brushes at places that rebuild starters and alternators. My last blower repair was a few months ago in my '91 Acura Legend. The local alt shop didn't have any brushes that fit, but they did have a nice pair that were too big. The price was steep; free, but I gave him $5 lunch money anyway. I sanded the brushes to fit, soldered the two wires in place and that was that. Oh, I also cleaned ans sanded the armature (where the brushes touch), it was kinda nasty and rough. I used 400 paper.