How to access blower motor?
 

Driving on a hot day day in Las Vegas, the A/C just let out a loud BOOM. Found out the blower motor just clonked out.

To replace it, do I access it from under the hood or do I have to rip apart the dash.

Dash has to come out.

Is there a link on a how-to take apart the dash?

Thanks guys

I did it, it's not that bad really, took about 15hrs total.

15 hours isn't bad? That sounds absolutely horrible to me.

These things go out like clockwork on BMW's. It is crazy they have to be so damn hard to replace. I had to remove the intake manifold my e36 and still bend some sheetmetal to get it out. The one in my e53 squeaked as well as the one in my current e46. I am dreading this repair.

Don't get me wrong I think it's absolutely ridiculous that the whole dash has to come out for a 1 minute blower motor swap and then the whole reassembly. I can't fathom why they couldn't have thought of a better access route. That being said, I've done much worse jobs on Ford and Chevys swapping heater cores - so relatively speaking it wasn't that bad. Here's some pics...

Any tips for those that will be doing it in the future. Ty.

15hrs.....is over kill. It took me 6 and I am not a mechanic. I just followed the Bentley manuals steps. Good luck, there is nothing difficult about this job but its just tedious.

wish i knew how to rip apart the interior like that.

Wish granted! Buy a Bentley and read, EVERY detail of this repair is defined in the manual.

The one in my X is 9 yrs old with 150k miles and just started squeaking when spinning down. Seen domestic/asian vehicles blower motors fail in half that time/miles. This repair is not as bad as it looks, I helped a friend do his in around 6 hrs. I've worked on GM cars that were more difficult to change spark plugs then this DIY.

It sounds bad to me. I personally don't like pulling apart interior trim. Something always seems to break when I do that.

I don't think it would be THAT hard to design this area bit better where replacement of this common failure item would only require removing the cabin filter housing from the engine bay and swapping this out.

yay. Just had this die on me. Thought it was the FSU, but I replaced that and still no dice.

would it be possible to get some oil to the bearing to extend the lifespan and delay the repair? maybe still have to remove some panels but not the entire dash etc?

NFC how to hook 12v to it.

Should correct this quote....."The one in my X is 9 yrs old with 150k miles and just started squeaking when spinning down".

I posted that 3.5 yrs/50k miles ago.

Turned out the spin down squeak was the sampler fan, cleaned/lubed (10 min job), working good.

I'm assuming it is in a similiar place as mine can you let me know where that one is? I have the faintest squeak when spinning down and at low fan speed, blower motor should be fine but I'd like to know about the sampler fan.

http://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/sh...7-528i)-(video)

Well, not the fuses, not the FSU... I REALLY don't want to do the blower... oh well, time to pony up or trade in and not tell the dealer the blower's bad :P