The Webmaster Zone

Last night I pulled apart the heater motor to find the cause of the horrible squeaking noise and jamming that was preventing me from being as warm as I would like to be. It was very easy to remove and disassemble the heater motor, just three 5/16" nuts to take it off the heater box and three more to separate the halves of the motor. I then pried the clip off the plastic fan and pulled it off the shaft and removed the windings. Sanded everything until it was nice and clean, and noticed that one of the clips on the inside of the motor housing that holds down the magnets was bent up, no doubt causing the rubbing sound. Pushed it down and lightly smeared some grease on the shaft where it contacts the housing and reassembled. Problem solved, it blows like a champ now! I was positively roasting this morning. I took this morning off from work and went to try and pass AirCare again, since my insurance expires in two weeks and I can't renew without an emissions certificate I thought I would give it another try. We have rolling road testing here that measures CO and HC emissions at 45 kph and idle. The first time through, I almost passed; slightly better than the last time I tried, I think the Lucas Sport Coil is burning a little cleaner. I still failed the CO at idle test though, so I pulled into the parking lot and tried to lower my idle. The idle screws were backed out all the way already (I am almost positive I have an air leak around the intake manifold somewhere) but I noticed the choke screw was just touching so I backed it off completely and that dropped it down 200 rpm to about 1000. Got back into line (the same line, I didn't want the testing equipment to be a variable) and I passed!!!!!!! I did a little happy dance of joy and treated myself to a few odds and ends at Octagon Motors, like new rubber pads for the brake and clutch pedal. The PO had a rubber on the gas pedal but nothing on the brake and clutch, which is bass-ackwards, and when my shoes are wet the pedals could be a bit slippery. I'm off down to Seattle again tonight, I should be toasty warm with my new heater. It turns out the fan cutting out wasn't because the heater was getting stuck though, the switch is flaky, so I will pull that and see if I can fix the contacts. I also need to rewire the panel lights dimmer so I can install my superbright Radio Shack bulbs, the PO bypassed the dimmer, I can see the two red and one red/white wire being held together by duct tape (DPO).