The blower motor has become more and more anemic in the last six months, finally settling into a rather weak "thwip -- thwip -- thwip" sound, even on full. Previously (a couple of years ago), I was able to resurrect the blower by wiggling on the connector. So I figured I'd try the wiggle trick again this morning, as last night the blower'd pretty much called it quits (thanks to Toyota for a vigorous rear seat heater!). No luck. The blower was not interested.

I disconnected the motor and hose, removed the three screws holding the blower assembly into the blower housing, and removed the blower assembly (motor and squirrel cage). Apparently the "thwip-thwip" noise was due to a small piece of vegetation that was lodged in the cage. After rummaging around for some test leads (I *know* have them *someplace* cuz I use them on the MGB all the time), I hooked the blower directly up to the battery to verify it was getting power (in case the wiring connector was faulty). No luck. A very anemic spin. :(

Well, whaddyaknow, there are two screws on the bottom end of the motor, which must mean Toyota intended for me to take it apart. :)

I popped the end cap off, and found the housing full of brown powder. Almost like coffee grounds, but it certainly didn't smell like coffee. I vacuumed and brushed most of the stuff out, and thinking (hoping) that gunk might have impeded the motor, I put it back together and hooked it up to the battery again. No luck.

Since I'd also noticed the brushes were rather worn, I popped the motor apart again to fiddle with the brushes. I didn't see any springs behind the brushes (and none flew out of the housing when I first disassembled it), so I can only assume the brushes had no backing springs, and were held against the commutator by the pressure from the mounting wires alone. A quick rummage through my magic spring box (one of those $1.99 zillion spring assortments) turned up two springs of more or less suitable "springy-ness" and appropriate diameter. Unfortunately, they were about 1/4" too short to be effective. Hhmmmmm... I wonder.... Yep. I cut two 1/4" long pieces of 1/4" copper tubing that I had handy, and dropped one each into the bottom of the brush housing to act as a spacer. To keep everything together until it was assembled, I loaded the spacer, spring, and brush into the housing, and used a mini zip-tie to hold them in place, then repeated the operation for the other brush. After I got everything assembled properly onto the motor shaft, I clipped the zip-ties and made sure the brushes were tracking properly. Then I put the end cover back on the motor and headed out to the Cruiser. A quick connect to the battery resulted in so much torque the motor was nearly wrenched from my hand. Hey, I guess it works!! :)

It took only a couple of minutes to put it all back in place in the Cruiser, and now I have PLENTY of breeze inside, even with the windows up. Good thing, too, as it snowed last night and I needed the defroster. :)