I did some searching and wound up pulling the squirrel cage and it was filled w dirt, leaves & water...

I dropped & disconnected it from the two prong plug... Turned on the ignition and blower controls full blast... Tested plug at the body harness side for power & it has 11.8V.

My question is how did this thing get filled w **** like that enough to ruin it...? I have another blower unit that I can steal a new motor / cage from but I don't want this to happen again..??

 

Do consider that it took more than 25 years to accumulate that much detritus and moisture.

The moisture accumulation is predominately from where you live and the local air moisture content. Running the motor not only causes a certain amount to build up but can also impart some of the built up moisture into the outgoing flow. If you are very concerned with this then you can drill a small hole in the bottom of the housing which will cause any accumulation to slowly drip out... onto your carpet (or winter mat).

The detritus accumulation is also simply from the intake of air although there isn't any real clever way to stop it. You could potentially put a stainless steel mesh by the blower motor intake but do keep in mind that if a large leaf gets stuck to it then you'll have a huge performance/flow drop. The dirt accumulation is likely from the other detritus as well as the water accumulation.

I would, personally, simply clean the housing, connector, and inspect (if possible) what I could of the rest of the system and reinstall. Good luck.

 

+1 Older heater units and cores can build up a lot of misc. crap over time. This is why cabin filters were invented as well to help keep the crap out. You can try and add like a mesh screen in front but the car doesn't have much of a design to stop another 20 years worth of build up...

 

I did do some searching before pulling the cage. Someone along the way someone said if you put a mesh screen and it happens to stop maybe a leaf from getting in then you'll have poor airflow from the blockage. Maybe better to just count it as routine maintenance since it comes down rather easy in under 5 min. I thought I had a second cage / motor but I'm going to have to look deeper into all my **** bc I can't find it....???

 

There is little reason to assume that the crud conveniently stopped at the squirrel cage.
Chances are good that the AC matrix (if you have it) and/or the heater core are dirty as well.
If you go to the trouble of cleaning all this- and you should- when you put it back together, tape a dryer sheet in the ductwork somewhere and your HVAC will smell like fresh laundry.
Seriously.

 

Ha, nice clokker...!!

I do remember now cleaning out a bunch of **** under the vent btwn the windshield and hood.

I can't believe I threw out all the junk from a doner car that went under the dash, just recently too. I held on to it for soooo long. SMH. If anyone has a cage / motor (part I posted in the first pic up top) PM me.

How hard is it to keep taking the rest of the system out...?? Dash doesn't have to come out, does it....??

 

Yes, it does and it ain't that hard.

 

I guess. Time is the hard part. I wonder if I can blow / vacuum it out from both sides as best I can and see how it goes. A new motor appears to only be around $50 shipped on ebay. Just not sure which one to go for...???

 

After you've done it a few times, dash removal takes about 30-45 minutes.
There are things, refoaming the flapper doors, for instance, that can only be done with full access to the HVAC bits.