What's the 'last leg' indications? I rebuilt a blower motor w/o replacing not too long ago; it was even crimped closed body (not welded, but not bolted) I was able to bend open the crimps, pull apart and replace bearing parts and in my case had to solder some winding wires to the commutator.

Do you have a step-by-step to get to the blower motor (youtube video etc). If you can get the motor out/in I would be willing to help you determine if it's an easy fix.

Removing the steering wheel is a piece of piss mate. Follow the plentiful instructions on the web about removing the airbag, and rest is simply electrical and mechanical.

One the blower motor R & R threads:

http://www.xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-foru...wer-motor.html

GL, mD

It's just a matter of time before the eval goes. Just replace it and move on.


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My evaporator went out. My SA at my local Indy has had his evaporator go out on his x3. They do fail. Just because you haven't experienced it doesn't mean that it doesn't happen. There are many threads about it for e39s. You don't see as many for the X5 because we have a rather small group.

Someone told me that if you remove the center vents x2 (the vents above the radio), then use a "colonosope" (OK, it is the inspection snake that one can buy for $65) to look.

If you look carefully through the colonoscope, you will see where the shaft joins the blower body. This bushing needs just a drop of oil on each side and this should be good for 2 years or so.

This should avoid removal the dash. Very often the squeaky blower motor is from dry bushings. It is not bearing, but bushings.

In the E39, some people remove the Cabin Filter Intake Boot and spray some WD-40 down the blower motor. The cabin will smell for a while but again, this saves time from dash removal.

BTW,

flybye, you need to rule out the FSR first.
When the FSR fails, it usually fails in the "ON" mode, in which case the blower motor runs all the time, draining the battery.
However, it can be "OFF" too, in that case blower motor does not run.

So, get a used FSR (BMW used) from ebay for $15, swap it and see what happens.

This is very promising as far as preventative maintenance goes.

I have not tried the inspection camera method, but wanted to show that McMaster-Carr sells extensions for aerosol spray cans that would help get in there.

McMaster-Carr