New heater motor

I have bought a new heater blower motor after the last coughed its finale in the middle of the recent cold spell (what a time for a heater to die!) I waited 6 weeks for a new one from the dealers, & now its here! I stripped out the centre console, radio, clock, cigarette lighter, passenger grab handle, glovebox etc etc etc but I still must have miles to go? I obviously have to take the steering wheel off & remove the instrument panel then does the entire dashboard come out? I reckon it must be two days work to remove all that lot! Any hints of tips on how it should come out?

What on?
I stripped my early V8 Disco dash in around 3 hours.

Well it took me all bloody day to get off what I have so far & there is a mountain of bits behind the back seats, once I remove the steering wheel & instrument panel whats left? there must be a mountain of air pipes to take off as well?

What Disco is it?

I'm guessing 200 shape, otherwise you'd have just removed the glove box to change the fan, on a 300.

Sorry if you didnt realise

Otherwise yeah if is a 200 you sure work slow, mine was about 2 hours out, 3 hours in. Whole dashboard has to come out.

Just keep undoing screws

Cheers lads seems I am heading in the right direction then, I just need to keep going by the seem of it, yes its the Disco1 200 & by the look of it they start off with the heater & build the rest of the interior around it! I will wait for the frost to go before I carry on stripping it down, & by the look of it, its only held in by 2 screws!

blueskip said:

Cheers lads seems I am heading in the right direction then, I just need to keep going by the seem of it, yes its the Disco1 200 & by the look of it they start off with the heater & build the rest of the interior around it! I will wait for the frost to go before I carry on stripping it down, & by the look of it, its only held in by 2 screws!

Click to expand...

3 days in & I have got the old heater box out &removed the motor only to find that the new one was different, so "bodged" it to fit, broke 2 air flaps trying to get the bloody box back together, so now have to set them in the "most used" position, another 4 days should see me somewhere near finished. 2 hours out, 3 hrs in, you want to come & work in my local garage mate!

Looks familiar

Id like to take mine out again tbh, to tidy up my accessories wiring and to remove the sound deadening.

One day maybe.

And I really don't know what's taking you so long mate, but at least you got there!!

I got there eventually & now I have done it once I would burn the bloody thing rather than do it again! lol NOBODY told me what a s**t job it is to reassemble that bloody plastic box, I have got it back together but broken bits off it everywhere, 2 of the flaps are broken so its a repair job insitu I aint taking the bloody thing apart again! EVER

Well i broke 1 of the flaps on mine getting it apart so im waiting for a second hand heater box them im going to cut the box to change the Matrix this time.
But yes pain in the arse. just hope that by the time i get the new box i can remember how it all goes back in.
Im also going to lose the spongy sound deadening and replace it with roof flashing tape as that works well as sound proofing.

HELP I have manged to "bodge" the new motor (which was a smaller dia than the original) by sticking packers down the side to wedge it! & I have put the box back in & managed to reconnect the coolant hoses back up (who designed them)? I connected all the air pipes back up & was ready to test it when I realised that I couldn't remember where I unplugged the original motor wires from! I have tried every "mini loom" that is lying about but none have a connection that picks up with the fan motor wires? I have checked & the new cable connector is the same as the old one, so all I can think of is that the blody connection is BEHIND the box, & I have to take it out again to plug the connection in first! Can anybody confirm my suspicion that it is behind the box? or throw any othger light on this mystery?

It gets worse! I reinstalled the heater box & managed to connect up the coolant pipes (what shape do you have to be to do that?) connected the air pipes back up & went to plug it in & test the motor, but where do I plug it in (where did I unplug it from)? I tried every bundle of wires attached to every connecter but nothing matches the cable from the fan! I checked the cable on the old fan & its identical to the cable on the new one? so where did I unplug the bloody thing from????? DONT TELL ME THE CONNECTER IS BEHIND THE HEATER BOX & i HAVE TO TAKE IT OUT AGAIN PLEASE!!! However its the only explanation! there is no sign of a connecter either side of the box, I am going to burn this bloody thing soon!:doh:

You're just gonna have to take the box out again then...

Maybe just nudge it a little bit?

Iirc the fan wires are quite thick so must be easy to spot...?

Mr Noisy said:

You're just gonna have to take the box out again then...

Maybe just nudge it a little bit?

Iirc the fan wires are quite thick so must be easy to spot...?

Click to expand...

I think you are right! I believe that as I took the box out I had to disconnect the 5 way connecter from behinnd the fan as I pulled it out! Why the hell didn't I make a note of that! Luckily I am in no rush for the vehicle & good job! otherwise I would have had the sack!

well thats reminded me to check when i eventually put mine back together.

This saga continues! took the heater box out again looking for the electrical connector only to find that it is on the drivers side (if anybody else forgets)! Plugged it in reconnected the battery switched on heater all working fine on all speeds, & fiddled the broken flaps so that I always have defrost/demist. Put the dashboard back in refitted the instruments & decided to test then (fuel, temp, innition, heater plugs etc) nothing! now even the heater isn't working I must have knocked something off & cut all the power, I AM going to burn this bloody thing soon!:doh:

There is a bulkhead fitting near the clutch pedal, on the engine side it comes direct from the alternator, on the cabin side it goes straight to the fuse box. That one fitting is where the power comes through for everything inside. Check that, you may have undone it?