Had a couple of hours between honey-do's so I was able to take apart the heater fan motor to see why it quit. Looks like the leads "unsoldered" themselves from the brush holders. I checked the resistance across the brushes and got about 2.5 - 3 ohms. I'm hoping that means that the windings are still OK.

Here's what it looked like (arrow points to where the solder left the work environment):

Here's the other side:

I also cleaned up the housing to make sure there wasn't any interference with the magnets--didn't see any, and the bushing in the bottom looked pretty good.

So, I guess it's time to try out my soldering skills--since it's been a little more tha 30 years since the last time, anyone have any tips?

More important, any ideas on what caused the problem inthe first place? When I first removed the motor from the car, it seemed hard to turn the fan, but now that it's cleaned up, it seems to spin pretty well . . . maybe it's old and needed a rest.

Thanks!

Steve A-

make sure BOTH areas are very warm...no cold joints....as to cause.....I've seen this before and to tell you the truth MY heater blower motor is getting gunked up....i'd say it has to do with the heat in the engine compartment and $HITTY soldiering.....

Yeah, I'll need to practice . . . I figure it'll take some work to get the brush holder hot enough--but need to be careful so I don't undo the leads to the brushes themselves . . . .

I'm sure you know to use flux-core solder, not acid-core. Get both pieces clean and shiny, and like Britt said heat them both up together then flow the solder on. Clean the soldering iron tip on a damp sponge and make sure it's tinned.

Thanks! I'll probably try to fix it this weekend. I'll let you know how it turns out . . . .

Steve A-

make sure there isn't too much slop in the bearing as those go out first usually up here.

Sorry, posted wrong...should have gone to Archie's thread, here:

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showtopic=351655

@archie