I picked one up from a yard today. The audi manual says to replace the blower motor with my symptoms so that's what I'm doing. Can anyone tell me how to get the wiper arms off? I've got the bolts off but the arms are pretty well stuck to the posts.

Anyone else done a blower motor that can offer any other advice?

 

My Audi wiper arm experience nets to loosen it and then just put pressure on it. Yes, it feels like something could break in many other parts, but on the wiper arms it works. Shaft underneath will be tapered and probably have little minor teeth that help it dig into the arm. That's what you are fighting to break it free.

 

Lift your wipers at 90 degrees and pull them gently left-right.

 

Hmm...

The last little Note in the manual is a little concerning. It refers to using a "conventional puller" if the wiper arm cannot be detached from the "wiper axle."

I've never had to use an extractor before, but it was definitely easier the second time I pulled them. The first time it felt like they were glued on, but they came free when I rocked the wiper arm side to side a bit to break them free from the cone-shaped shafts they mount onto.

Carry on...

 

I replaced my blower motor recently. When I got it out the brushes were gone. I got a new one in and it works, but I still think I have a problem with the blower resistor control module, which is right next to the blower motor. Anyways here's exactly how I got mine out no need to remove wipers.

Remove the torx screws from inside the blower top housing(where the cabin filter sits). There are 3 or four inside the housing. There are a couple along the outside edge and there are a couple pain in neck ones to get under the wireharness attached around the housing. There is one hidden on the right hand side underneath the sensor towards the back corner. You can pop the sensor out to get at it. Further the manufactured posts that attach the wiring(where they are zip tied at) can be removed instead of trying to cut the wire ties. You have to use pickel fork under the posts and slide firmly straight off. The plastic posts have a one way pinch washer on them and can be slid back on. Don't try and wiggle them off you will break the molded post off.

Once you get that rectangle housing out of the way you will see the blower and black plastic housing around it. Remove the two torx screws you can get at on the front of the housing corners, but there are two in the back that you will wonder how in th *** am I going to get to them. This is where you can cheat it out and back in, but it takes a little time. I used a 1/4 torx bit and attached a 1/4 swivel adapter to it. You can get it on the torx screw and then use swivel the adapter moving it to the side like a wrench to give you the torque to get it loose. Once it is loose you can get it out with finger strength.

Now once you get both of those out you can bend the plastic blower guard out with attached blower guard rings. Don;t worry you won;t break it just bend it towards you and you will be bending the blower box as well to get it out. Once that's out you will see a big metal center clamp holding the blower in place. There is a 12mm? with a philips head attaching it. There is another one behind it, but don;t bother trying to get it off. Just bend the clamp up enough to slip the blower out. Unplug it and put your new one back in. Bend the clamp down and put it back together.

One last thing when putting it back together remove the two blower shield circlular rings from the plastic housing. When you pry the plastic blower shield in place its a lot easier getting it centered and in correclty with those two blower rings off. Put them back in once you have the blower housing back in place. The screw on the right one is a pain to get back in, but you can do it with a little patience.

Total time out and back in 1.5hrs

Good luck!!

 

Nice (insert sarcasm) to see that my A8 is no different from my '87 5000CS quattro in the HVAC blower department. I replaced the brushes once then the whole motor the 2nd time. Brushes not sold by Audi/VW/Bosch but I used Bosch power tool brushes that I had to file down to fit. They only lasted a few years before wearing down. The originals lasted about 14 years.

The motor was a huge PITA to replace. Removal wasn't so hard at junkyards. I never did it (bought a new motor) but saw virtually all where someone rips the motor out by destroying the airbox in a few minutes. proper R & R is a huge pain though. Interior under dash removal required to get at coolant hose CONnections.

 

Is that a nice way of saying BFH and crowbar ?

 

No. It's nice way to ruin your wipers. Same like removing your steering wheel with conventional puller. Just rock it a bit and cone is going to give.

 

Thank you much. I'm not with the car now. It's apart and waiting for my intervention. We're kind of thinking that the resistor/ blower controller might be the culprit now. The code that came up (unfortunately I no longer have it) was referenced in Audi's online manual. It said to clear the code and if it comes back then to replace the blower. To me the blower doesn't appear to be bad though. It's never made any funny noises. Here's what it does:

1. When the vehicle is started the blower motor won't start 8 times out of 10. When it finally does start (Almost always within 5 minutes) it comes on full blast immediately.

2. Control through the MMI is intermittent. 40% of the time the blower is controllable through the MMI and works just fine. The other 60% of the time the blower just blows at one constant speed, I would guess to be about 10 on the MMI control. The MMI will acknowledge a change in desired fan speed but no change will occur. So it will say it's on a 2 but it's really blowing at a 9. The blower motor will alternate between this state and working properly several times while driving. It might be on automatic and then all of the sudden it switches from a speed 4 to speed 10. It still thinks it's on speed 4 and it's still commanding speed 4 but it's going much faster than that.

To me that doesn't sound like a failing blower. Can I ask what your symptoms were? I've got the controller on the way too. I hate throwing parts at it though.

 

My blower was not turning on most of the time. It would always run at a slower than normal speed without really any control. Finally it just stopped blowing completely. Now the blower comes on, but I am having the speed control issue as you are. The blower is really a crap design overall with the exposed winding and brushes. My theory is the motor fails then wrecks the speed control board from overheating(Audi engineering 101+ $700). You might as well put them both in since you are going to be there anyway.

Good Luck