E30 AC/Heater Fan Motor R&R

["b r" <flybarons@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Just thought I would provide my experienceof having to remove the fan
motor and housing to get the wiper motor and assembly out. First off to
get the motor out there is a metal strap that you must remove. I didn't
see the hole in the bottom of the strap but I had to pry the strap off
and it was not easy. My awl fit into the hole when I re-installed and had
to put a 3 lb hammer behind the awl to get it to snap back into place.
Once the motor is out you need to remove the plastic housing. It has 4
spring metal clips that could only be put in when assembled. You can pry
the front ones off but the rear ones are too tight to get off. I had to
slip a gasket scrapper between the two pieces of plastic that the clip
holds and beat hell out of it to snap off. The clips had never been
removed and were super tight and very sharp.

Another tip. When you try and get the plastic housing out (to get the
wiper assembly out) you can slide the plastic housing out by unsnapping
both of the flappers that move the air flow around. There are two
flappers per side and sliding the plastic housing out between the
flappers is the easiest way.

As they say re-assembly is the reverse except here it is not. I could
only get the front snaps on and had to trim part of the plastic housing
that interferred with the fan blade movement. The removal of the wiper
motor and assembly was hard on the fan area plastic parts and I had to
trim to fit. The metal strap that holds the motor in place was easier due
to using the awl into the hole at the bottom of the strap.

All in all I would not attempt to do this again as it was very hard.
Doing the water pump and timing belt was cake compared to this.

By the way this was a 1986 325es and you will be very suprised at how
dirty a job this was as all the air flows throught that area and so does
the dirt.

Hope this provides some utility to those planning to do this.

Brad Purvis

86 325es

92 318is

97 M-3

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