Intermittent Interior Blower Fan

[Hawkwind]

Hi guys.

1999 CLK320 80,000 miles

I'm having problems with the interior blower, occasionally it will not work at all.
This can be a problem with misted up windows.

When it stops working, the display is fully functional, but the blower is completely dead. Then after a while it may start to
operate for no apparent reason.

I checked under the dash yesterday and found a loose connection, was hoping that would sort the problem,
but drove the car last night and it was the same.

So, I managed to have a look at the blower motor today.

Removed it from under the dash and visually inspected it. Electrics is a black art to me, but I remover the carbon brushes and they seem to have plenty of life left in them. Though the car is 21 years old, it only has 80K miles, so I wouldn't have expected them to be totally shot.

Other than that there was a small piece of what looked like grass in the motor housing, perhaps this has managed to interfere somehow? Literally grasping at straws here

So back to square one really, I'll see if the fault persists and if so my next thought is to replace the blower motor.
I'm reluctant to do that, because when it works, it works perfectly.

Any thoughts or ideas are most welcome. I'll keep things updated.

 

[Dodipops]

It’ll be the motor, when it’s not working give it a knock I’m sure it’ll burst into life proving it’s the motor.

 

[DrNick]

I would have gone for brushes as the likely culprit. Even if they appear to have lots of life, can they still move in their guides? They might not be able to move any further.

 

[Hawkwind]

Update.....It's been a week now and so far the blower is working perfectly. Maybe the piece of grass was the problem, or taking out the motor brushes has re-seated them so they make better contact.

Thanks for the replies, guys.

Any more thoughts or ideas are most welcome. I'll keep things updated.