Heater blower motor issue / GU Patrol blower motor

[Murray_Calavera]

Hi all, 

I have an issue where my heater blower motor stopped working. 

I removed the blower motor (and cleaned the 30 years of filth out of it) and bench tested it by putting 12 volts through it. Worked like a champion. Tried to test it again with 1.5 volts, wouldn't turn at all. 

I connected it up in the car and turned the fan on. Nothing. Turned up the fan speed, nothing again regardless of the fan speed setting. 

However once I gave the fan a little nudge, it would spin up like a champ. All 4 fan speed settings worked once the fan was already up and running. It's just an issue of getting it to initially turn on its own. 

There is one other small issue though, once the fan is up and running, it makes a slight continuous tick/clicking noise in operation. 

So I was wondering, does anyone know if the GU Patrol heater blower motor fits the R33? Looking at photos it seems identical and they are only about $50 on ebay.

Failing that, are there businesses that are able to rebuild my blower motor? I'd prefer that to picking up a second hand part and I can't find anyone that stocks new R33 blower motors. 

[BK]

Start up motor torque sounds like a faulty capacitor issue on whatever PCB controls it. Bit of a prick to verify though 

[Duncan]

Looks like the Y61 Patrol Part# is 27220-VB201. I've got an R32 one, it is 27220-85L00. Amayama doesn't list either of those as suiting R33 but that's no guarantee, it says R33 is 27220-15U00 and that they were in Nissan Bluebird Nissan Cefiro Nissan Laurel Nissan Maxima Nissan Skyline with CD20 GA16DS KA24DE RB20DE RB20E RB25DE RB25DET RB26DETTHICAS RD28 SR18DE SR20DE SR20DET VQ20DE VQ25DE VQ30DE. Unfortunately none of them are listed as cross references in FAST

Alternatively, $50 seems like a cheap bet these days....ultimately it just needs to be installed/sealed physically then sort out the wiring (2 pins only....)

[Murray_Calavera]

Thanks for doing the leg work in FAST.

I'm thinking I'll just roll the $50 dice and see how I go. 

[BK]

On 16/08/2022 at 9:26 AM, Murray_Calavera said:

Thanks for doing the leg work in FAST.

I'm thinking I'll just roll the $50 dice and see how I go. 

I mentioned a failed capacitor on the PCB, but it actually could be directly on the motor. Have you checked if there is one on the motor assembly unit ? If there is it is most likely faulty, as mentioned a lot of motors use a capacitor for initial start up. Could end up being a $5 fix.

[Murray_Calavera]

On 8/16/2022 at 10:13 AM, BK said:

I mentioned a failed capacitor on the PCB, but it actually could be directly on the motor. Have you checked if there is one on the motor assembly unit ? If there is it is most likely faulty, as mentioned a lot of motors use a capacitor for initial start up. Could end up being a $5 fix.

Ah, I think I misunderstood you earlier. I bench tested the motor again putting 1.5V through it, when it didn't spin I gave it a nudge and it started spinning. When you mentioned the PCB issue, I assumed there must be an external control unit for the motor and as it still failed on the bench then I thought it wasn't a PCB issue. 

There might be a PCB inside, but I'm not sure how to further strip the motor down. This is only as far as I've got. 

I tried to gently pull the motor assembly upwards but it's pretty snuggly in there. 

[GTSBoy]

Ah, sorry Ben. Caps on DC motors are not start capacitors. They are for noise suppression and flyback protection.

Only AC motors need/use caps for starting.

On this motor, I would suggest investigating the state of the bearings. Spray some silicone lube in and see if it comes good (until it dries back out).

[Murray_Calavera]

On 8/16/2022 at 10:35 AM, GTSBoy said:

Ah, sorry Ben. Caps on DC motors are not start capacitors. They are for noise suppression and flyback protection.

Only AC motors need/use caps for starting.

On this motor, I would suggest investigating the state of the bearings. Spray some silicone lube in and see if it comes good (until it dries back out).

Sounds like a plan. Where should I be spraying the silicone? I'm not very familiar with electrical motors and don't know where the bearings are. 

Should I spray into any of the areas I've indicated?

[TurboTapin]

On 8/15/2022 at 8:45 PM, Murray_Calavera said:

Sounds like a plan. Where should I be spraying the silicone? I'm not very familiar with electrical motors and don't know where the bearings are. 

Should I spray into any of the areas I've indicated?

Do not spray anything at the two points marked. You'll more then likely have a bearing under the black cap in your photo and at the other end of that shaft. Also take a look at your brushes, they may need cleaning/replacement. The brushes will be at each end of those two wires you see in your top picture. 

Edited August 16, 2022 by TurboTapin

[GTSBoy]

This ^

[Murray_Calavera]

I'm stuck again. I can't for the life of me figure out how to pull this thing down any further to get at the bearings or brushes. 

[GTSBoy]

The fact that it looks like the bearing (that coppery coloured ring around the shaft) would have to slide down from above to get on there suggests that it might be assembled by either sliding that bearing retainer (the dark coloured housing around the bearing) down and then riveting it on (those 2 swaged/staked rivets on the wings of the dark housing), or the whole end cap (The zinc plated open sided pressing, plus the dark bearing cap) are slid down and then rotated (bayonet fashion) under those rusty looking hooks from the main body of the motor.....or if it can't rotate to become captive by those hooks, then maybe those hooks are pressed down from the vertical after it is in place.

If you cannot get it apart, doesn't matter. Just use the reach tube on the silicone lube can to poke the spray in underneath it and soak it into the bearing from the other side. Do the same/best you can at the other end and give it a whirl.

Also, looking at the second of those photos I can clearly the see one of the brushes and it looks like it still has reasonable length on it and shouldn't give trouble. But have a good look at the commutator ring and where the brush is touching it and make sure that there's not some funky wear pattern on the brush causing poor contact. I think the other brush should be equally visible from a slightly different angle.

[Murray_Calavera]

Thanks for the help everyone. 

I kept spraying silicon til 1.5V turned the fan over on the bench. Works perfectly in the car now. Fingers crossed the bearings don't dry out too quickly. 

[GTSBoy]

If it reverts to being a flamin mongrel, try some PTFE lube sprayed in there instead. If that fails, more effort spent on disassembly to permit cleaning/lubing/replacement of the bearings might be the thing.

[Murray_Calavera]

So even though I got the original blower motor working again, the ticking noise was a bit much. I took a chance on the patrol blower motor, works perfectly. The only difference is the connector location, however the connector reaches no problem. 

So a brand new blower motor for around half the cost of a used item. $45.30 well spent! 

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/133102428683

Please ignore the google search tags: 

Heater Fan Blower Motor For Nissan Patrol GU Y61 1997-2012 Air-conditioning Cabin - R33 skyline blower motor

[Duncan]

Good update, thanks