A/C blower question

[mdregister]

Not sure if this is the appropriate forum-sorry if I am mistaken.

I need to replace my A/C blower motor on my 85 Suburban 6.2L.

The blower is surrounded by an isulating material (SEE PICS) that I am unclear how to remove. The material appears to be all one piece and intertwined with variouis A/C plumbing. I am afraid to pull on it too much because of its age.

Any thoughts on how to remove it?

http://karensphotos.com/suburban/Motor-002.jpg

http://karensphotos.com/suburban/Motor-001.jpg

[grape]

I have no idea what gm was thinking when the did this. Unfortunately there is no way to get to the blower motor unless you break that insulation off. That is one solid peice and it was put on before any of the other components were bolted to the firewall, really easy to work on :rolleyes:

[EWC]

What about removing the inner fenderwell on that side ?

[kconnair]

I replaced my blower motor on my '86 suburban without damaging that insulating vinyl stuff. :confused: I did it when it was cold, but it would be much easier when it is warmer outside. It is much more flexible if the temp is above 70. I pulled the fender and inner fender well off, and then maneuvered it away as far from the blower motor as possible. Still a monumental pain in the a**, but it can be done without ruining the insulating sheet. It is funny, but my shop manual says absolutely nothing about it (at least that I can remember)

Good luck,

Kevin. :cool:

[jcomp]

I've got the same problem. I've decided to do a little surgery with my dremel. GM loses some smart points in my book for this one. The engineer that came up with the thermo-mechanical glow plug controller probably had a hand in this. :D

[john8662]

I had a 1991 suburban (old body style) w/ 6.2 that I had to replace the blower motor on and it had this material on. You can remove the material by unbolting the inner fender and dropping it down. Once the inner fender has ben lowered out of the way, you'll find the small screws that hold the insulating plastic material to the firewall. The plastic cover is in two pieces, but glued together near the evap box. Its not too bad, but its definitly not easy for something that should be. Good luck.

[mdregister]

Thanks for the replies all, very helpful.

I was not going to remove the fender, so I broke out the Dremel and wall board bit and made me an "access hatch". Worked great and I was able to piece it all back together with a little duct tape and insulating foam. Of course it looks a little bit like frankenstein's head with the cuts in it, but I am much cooler now.

On a side note, before I made any cuts, I noticed a LOT of air escaping the insulation around the seal to the firewall. I sealed the cracks with insulating foam and no air is escaping now. I have much more air flow in the cab now, but this may also be due to the fact I cleaned the fins on the condenser (is that right?) with brake cleaner while I was in there.

[rke1]

I have done this job several times -- once to remove the mumified remains of a mouse and nest.
Just get a sharp box opener and slice the rubberized cover, I think one or two of the nuts holding the cover to the firewall need to be removed also. Hold your mouth just right and the blower motor can be removed and reinstalled. The wire (purple I think) can be a bit of trouble.

When everything is back together just seal it up with black RTV and you'r ready to again enjoy the marginal A/C.