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Hello all!
I am in a situation, by blower has died, I am in AZ in 110 degree heat everyday and seriously need this to work. I replaced brushes last year, but am thinking a cold solder joint cracked, or who knows. Anyway, I moved and all my tools are in storage and unavailable. I am going to have to get a list of what I need and go borrow them from a buddy. Anyone have a specific list of what's needed, I have zero recollection of what I used.
Hi, my blower motor slows down when I would take a hard right turn, but would work fine otherwise. I removed it (ugh) and purchase the above size brushes. The Bosh motor for my 2009 A8 has a manufacturer p/n on it that says 0130111047. I took some pics of the brushes, replacement and original. The width is 8mm for original and repalcement, but the originals have a height of 10mm, and the replacements are 9mm, so the replacements wiggle a bit in the housing. Maybe the motor changed over the years, but the l8-9H brushes are a bit small (8mmx9mmx22mm). It seems like a L8-H10 (8mmx10mmxany length<22mm)) would be better, but they don't come pre ground to a curve. Also, as you can see in my pictures, the brushes are wearing thicker on the bearing end, which may mean my commutator may be wearing a bit more on the bearing end, This would explain why on a right turn, the internals of the motor move to the left just a fraction of the mm, and cause reduced contact as the commutator pushes the brush off of itself a bit because it is uneven. Anyway, what would people suggest, buying a whole new blower because of that slight uneven wear, getting the L8-H10 brushes which fit snug (but will again wear uneven eventually, (I guess i could also put the L8-9H brushes int here and just solder in a 1mm thick strip of wire into the shaft to keep it from wiggling)
pics below. You can see the uneven wear on the last pic.
This is just a later addendum to help other: this is what the brush housing and some other view of the motor look like. I lubricated the bushings (they are unfortunately not sealed bearing) with electric motor oil. Before and after this, I did notice that when you spin the squirrel cage it did not free wheel for a while, like bike wheel, it stops pretty soon. The bushings looked to be in good shape. Is this how the new ones are as well?? It has never had an issue being slow, I figure sometimes motors are just like this.
As a temporary solution, I created a shim to fill the 1mm gap created by the aftermarket brushes. I used aluminum from a razor blade holder and I coated it with anti seize on one side. Made a right angle at the back so it would not slide in. Ground the brushed with a dremmel sanding bit to match the curve on the older brushes and also dremmeled a notch on the back for the wire to exit to the side like the original brushes. I'll use this till I an order a new motor.
Last edited by Sci-fi_Wasabi; 04-18-2021 at 06:46 PM.
Just some pics to help others with this process. Allocate a 1/2 day to remove and a 1/2 day to replace.
All but 2 of the screws are t15 torx, with two 10 mm bolts for curved bracket holding down the motor. i needed an assortment of extension and and a short t15 bit and a 2 inch t15 bit and small 1/4 inch ratcheting wrench to hold the bits for all the tight places. i chose to not remove the wipers or aluminum torsion/crush bar to avoid breaking more thing, but it would have made it easier.
Here are some of the extra tools i used.
as others have noted in diagrams, there are 3 screws under the dampers and 3 in back of the upper shroud,
there are also two along the side, the left is easy to get to the right is quite difficult.
Left side one:
For the right side one, first remove the Air temperature sensor: This pic I have here is how to put it back, but removal is just squeeze the there prongs on the top and push:
There is a wire harness in the way of the next screw, the harness are on clips that are on studs, I used a trim removal tool to push the clip off of the stud a few mm till the brake booster gets in the way. if you can get to the zip tie it would be better to cut and replace that, as the plastic studs will probably break on you, i got lucky here. then i used my 2 inch t15 bit on some extensions to get at the screw at an angle and thankfully it engaged it, go slowly, if strip the torx at that weird angle, you are stuck.
Here is a better view of where the screw and stud are after removal.
In order to pull up there are more harness clips to remove, The ones in the front have these claws in them, you need to take two flat screw drivers and pry them downwards from either side. there are two more zip tie clips on studs to remove on the left, again, better to remove the zip ties and replace.
Now you can slide the piece upwards (there is a tongue and groove slot in the back so slide up first, then deliver this baby through the aluminum trapezoid.
The damper motor plug stays, so you just lift it out and flop it to the right and keep it there for the rest of the job.
Next remove these two screw on the left and right of the rear shroud, right one is tough , squeeze in there with the 2 inch t15 bit and push the wires to the side:
OK, got through EASY stuff, now for the tough part!!!
The shroud around the squirrel cage as 4 screws, two in the front are easy, two in the back are a difficult, use your short t15 bit and ratchet to feel your way in there and unscrew them patiently 5 degree turns at a time
There are two rings along side this shroud, you could pull it out with them on but you may break a fin on the squirrel cage or the rings, you certainly need them off to replace the shroud , just take them off now. You will have to deflect the back piece out of the way. The left one is easier, the right one has no clearance, I used a needle nose plier to unscrew it just a bit at a time. here is a pic of the ring on the other side.
Now you can disconnect the motor harness from the regulator and rotate that squirrel cage shroud out,,, but it will hang up on the motor wire in the back:
The wire is attached to the back of the shroud by a clip, just push the wire down out of the clip:
The motor bracket is held on by two 10 mm bolts, one is in the back and you need a short extension to feel it out in the back, i stuck the camera back there to take a picture.
Before you remove the bracket, note how the motor wire is routed in back, it is tucked into a certain position then comes out of the back of the squirrel cage shroud through a slot. you can't see any of this when installing so it took me quite a bit of time to get it in the right position so i could get the shroud to sit right. I think it kind of tucks in at the corner of the bracket. I did manage to reinstall it into the clip as well after many tries, because whenever i would try it would mess up the routing in the back and the shroud would not sit right. It is probably no big deal if you don't get the wire to sit in the clip on the back.
When installing, make sure you motor works and turns freely multiple times, you down want to find that the cage is rubbing on something after installation.
When putting the damper shroud on, remember there is a tongue in groove system. The back of the damper shroud slides down onto the shroud in back of it. Then there are a number of studs to line up, this took a long time to get it to sit right, it would hang up on a wire or stud or the back grooves did not line up right... etc.
I will add some pictures of the original motor and brushes, to my prior post.
Last edited by Sci-fi_Wasabi; 04-18-2021 at 06:42 PM.
... the replacements are 9mm, so the replacements wiggle a bit in the housing...
You quoted. richard-TX I am guessing you bought it from carbonbrushes.com?
I got mine from Amazon, and they look identical to yours down to the packaging.
You maybe right that audi may have changed the specs slightly with the 2008.
I have a 2005. To install it, I had to push that spring real tight. I considered grinding the down the brushed but I decided to leave it the way it was to see if it works without issues. I have installed mine about a couple of months ago, so far no problems.
I wish I would have delayed replacing mine, I would have shaved a couple of hours by following your procedure.
BTW, I have read some post about some people having difficulties reinstalling that back bolt of the bracket. For people planning to do this procedure, you don't have to remove the bracket and the back bolt.
You can release the front bolt and just bend the bracket. The metal bracket can take some bending action.
Thanks maxandtara,
I also purchased the brushes form Amazon. The ones from carbonbrushes would have been the same size as the amazon ones per their specs 8mmx9mm. I'm glad they fit in your version of the motor. I also had the brush spring totally compressed when I got them in.
The only thing I notices is possible some slightly increased motor whine. I may just be hyper focused on the motor sounds. I think this will go away as the brushes seat and smooth out on the commutator and the spring tension goes down a bit with time.
Good suggestion on the mount bracket bolt. I was putting in the same motor so the rubber around it was not displacing the bracket as it might for new rubber, everything just fell into palace, so the bolt was easy to put back for me.
06-12-2018, 12:42 PM
Tool list
