W124 E320 heater blower problems

[swallow42]

help - my 1995 E320 Cabriolet has developed an irritating problem with it's heater blower fan (its a non-aircon model).
Although the heater itself is very powerful, the blower quite often fails to come on when the ignition is turned on.
Sometimes it starts to work at a later stage during a journey, but it never 'cuts out' unless the ignition is turned off, and always continue to work once it's come on.
It works on all speeds so I assume the rheostat is OK.
I've checked the feed to the fuse and all is OK
The blower itself isn't noisy in operation so I presume the motor itself is fine.

My feeling is the blower switch may be at fault.

Two questions: (1) am I looking in the right place, (2) how do you remove the switch?

Any help would be much appreciated now the cold weather is setting in!

 

[television]

I think that your problem is motor brushes, and the reason why it starts sometimes is that the incoming air turns the fan and it can start

 

[swallow42]

thanks for the reply.

but occasionally, if the switch is left on, it starts as the ignition is switched on normally, ie without the car moving and air being forced in. Would this still be the case if the motor brushes were going?

 

[anyweb]

starting the car probably gives enough vibration to get it moving, i'm with malcolm on this, check your brushes on the heater blower motor.

cheers
anyweb

 

[swallow42]

OK. I presume the motor has to be removed to do this?

 

[anyweb]

yes it does, and theres a recent thread here describing that in detail, do a search for heater blower motor

here's one

http://forums.mercedesclub.org.uk/showthread.php?t=31811&highlight=heater+blower+motor

and there are many more

cheers
anyweb

 

[Bolide]

100% brushes. Sometimes the motors groan into action when you corner hard and sometimes a sharp slap on top of the dash will start them

It's a DIY job. Although awkward it's not that difficult. If you don't fancy filing down a set of brushes to fit your local auto electrician or washing machine repairers should do it for a few quid

Nick Froome
www.w124.co.uk