1994 Suburban heater blower motor

[T-Max]

I have a '94 5.7 K1500 4WD Suburban and have just finished R&R on the heater blower motor. I was very disappointed with my results when searching via Google as to how to complete the job, so now that I figured it out and it's done, I thought I'd post the precise procedure here (tho' I don't know if a Google search will pick it up)

First of all, it appears that the "official" manual and lots of other sources tell you to remove the dashboard. That is indeed unnecessary (as some sources I found said) so forget that.

Secondly, it's best to think of the job in two parts: 1) getting to the blower motor and removing it from the housing but not completely out where you can work on it, and 2) getting it completely out of the vehicle (i.e., clearing the dashboard).

This way of looking at the job makes more sense because it breaks the job down to what it really entails.

The first part is fairly simple.

1) The first thing to do is disconnect the battery since you have to take the ECM out. Virtually everyone says to disconnect the negative battery cable, so I guess that's the proper thing to do. Next, take out the glove box, which is pretty easy. Using a flat blade screwdriver, I carefully popped out both of the rubber "ropes" that hold the door from dropping too low when open, and I also removed the air vent on the right side, which also serves as the right side mount for the glove box door. That vent pops out with a screwdriver blade after the two screws are removed. That gets the door out of the way which proves to be a good thing later. Plus it's easy. But I suppose that removing the glove box door is not strictly necessary.

2) Then remove the ECM. This is a little tricky because the ECM mounts on a plastic base and is attached to that base with 2 metal clips on the left side as you look at it (and which you can see). So remove the 2 clips (although maybe you don't even have to remove them. Maybe you can just reach down and pop them loose underneath?). I pried them loose with a large flat blade screwdriver, but I think that was not good. I think the better way is to lift the ECM upward (maybe even pry it upward) on the left side. That's because the clips slide upward to attach the ECM to the base, and thus you want them to slide downward to get them loose. You'll see what I mean. Slide it to the left to get it off the base because there are two large plastic "pins" on the right side of the ECM that slide into the base and hold the ECM down to the base on that side. Take the ECM out after removing the 2 large Red and Blue wire connectors to it. After you get the ECM out, the base has to come out so that the rubber "boot" around the heater motor can be removed. There are two 7 mm screws on top of the base at the back (one can't be seen cuz it's down in a hole) and then two other 7 mm screws at the bottom which are easy to see and get to even before the ECM is removed. They just need to be loosened, not removed. Do NOT remove them cuz it looks like it could be hard (or impossible) to get them back in later on. So just loosen them a good bit and the plastic mount slides up and off of them after the top screws are removed.

5) Then remove the two wires to the heater motor. Now you can remove the rubber "boot" around the heater motor. The wires have to come off first. To remove the boot, there are two tabs on top that ya have to lift it over (you'll see), and another at the bottom which can be seen from below. The boot can be squeezed out between the housing and the dash because it's flexible, but ya have to bend it around quite a bit to do it, so be a bit careful with it. Or, better yet, go to the second part of the job and follow that procedure so that you can pull the dash back enough to get the boot easily out (you'll have to do it soon anyway).

6) At this point the heater motor is completely accessible, so remove the six 7 mm screws that hold the motor in and that's it for the first part of the job. Note that one of these screws attaches the ground wire connector blade that comes off with the screw removed, so note that one's position, as well as the position of the blade (so that you can get it back like it was).

Part 2 involves getting the motor completely out of the vehicle so that you can work on it or replace it as may be necessary. The problem is that ya can't get the motor & blower cage assembly past the dashboard because it's just too freaking tight no matter how you turn the motor.

The key to getting the motor past the dashboard is removing the plastic door trim at the bottom of the passenger door sill. Also remove the 13mm bolt down at the bottom right side of the dash and at the right side of the cab. The trim just pops out if you pull the flat "flap" part of it outward to release the plastic "tit" that has to be pulled out before the thing just then pops off. Use a flat blade screwdriver on the "lip" of the trim piece to pop it off near where it meets the door. Once that trim is removed the dash can then be lifted over the stud that's revealed (you'll see) and then pulled backward a bit (enough to allow the motor to slide out and then back in). If you haven't removed the 13 mm bolt already, you'll see now that it has to be removed.

And that's about it. Remember that that trim piece must be removed, otherwise you can't lift that part of the dash over the stud, which means you can't pull it backward, which means you can't get the motor & blower cage assembly out (and back in).

This is all for my '94 Suburban, as above. I have no idea about any other years or models.

Following this procedure, the job really is pretty simple and shouldn't take too long at all.

Since my truck sits quite a bit, I thought maybe there was a mouse nest or other debris keeping my motor from blowing last winter, which definitely was a problem on very cold days. But it turned out that it just needed to be lubricated with some WD 40 and then some light oil (sewing machine oil works well). Once you get it out, that job is pretty simple.

Google "1994 suburban heater blower motor" (no quotation marks) and you'll see exactly what the blower motor & cage assembly looks like (and why you can't get it all the way out without getting the dashboard back a bit). I should have done that myself before I started, but I didn't think of it.

 

[zora]

Thanks for the post

 

[T-Max]

Thanks for the post

Thanks for the thanks. Like most things of this sort, it's a LOT easier to do once you know all the little tricks involved.

I saw one post where the guy actually cut part of the rubber boot away so that he could get access to the blower motor.

Although some responses to queries about how to do this job seemed to come from guys who actually knew how to do it, the responses were grossly inadequate as to the particulars of what's really required.

Any readers here who might already be subscribed to sites like Ask.com or wiki answers.com, or any other site that comes up on a Google search for a query like "how to replace 1994 suburban heater blower motor," please feel free to link my post. Otherwise, I don't think it can be found via Google.

Which is a shame for anyone who actually has to undertake this task because it's really a simple job once you know the little quirks as to how to do it. I'd hate to think that someone might actually undertake to take the dashboard out, as one guy apparently did.

And I imagine that there might be lots of owners of older Suburbans who will be called upon to address their blower motors since, as I said, mine wasn't working properly simply because it needed a bit of lubrication.

Incidentally, the blower chamber, which is rumored to be highly susceptible to accumulating debris (and thus causing blower problems) was surprisingly debris free. And my truck sits outside underneath a lot of messy trees and thus accumulates a LOT of junk on the relevant area.

Then again, I suppose any debris that falls in there might tend to get blown out eventually.

 

[T-Max]

I just finished up the job by putting the glove box back in, yada yada, which I had not done as of my opening post. And now that I see that I can't edit that post any longer, I'm (unfortunately) resigned to update it here with a few more pointers.

1) In popping out the rubber "ropes" that hold the door from dropping too low when open, I now know the proper way to do that (cuz ya kinda have to do it this way when reinstalling them). The plugs that you pop out are comprised of 2 parts: there's a plastic plug that goes through the other part which is the part with the prongs that prevent that rope end from coming out in normal use. So when you go to reinstall those rubber rope ends, you just remove the plastic plug first (it just slides out), then insert the prongs into the opening, then slide the plastic plug back in (which then forces the prongs outward thus holding everything in place). Thus when you remove those rope ends, you don't need to actually "pop" them out. Just insert a thin screwdriver blade and work the plug out first, and then the rope end (with the prongs) practically falls out. Look at it carefully and you'll see what I mean. I'm sure that experienced folks already know this, but I didn't.

2) As far as removing what I called "the the plastic door trim at the bottom of the passenger door sill" (which is actually the "right cowl kick panel" (and if you don't know what it is, do a Google image search and you'll see it)), you want to do that before you remove the 13 mm bolt at the bottom right of the dash. That's because it's much easier to get at that bolt after the kick panel is removed. Again, you'll see what I mean.

Finally, I'd be remiss if I didn't note that in one guy's post that I ran across he said: "You can find the blower motor removal and installation procedure for your Suburban in Haynes manual no. 24065, Chapter 3, Section 10."

That comment was specifically directed to a query about removing the blower motor on a 1994 GMC Suburban, but I assume it would apply to a 1994 Chevy Suburban as well (which is what I have).