The blower motor has top and bottom pieces that are held together by a series of clips. They are bands of metal that are C-shaped and have a little (or a lot) of spring loading on them. Some you can either slide off to the slide to get them loose and pull them off. some you can press in the middle and pull off. I have all of them off but one in the back that is hard to reach. A little hook, a screwdriver, brute force, … - all have been tried on it to no avail. It is in the small space between the blower motor and the fire wall. (It is an 89 model.) I asked a Honda tech how they get that last clip out and he said they take out the dash. I do not care about the little clip at this point. In fact I would like to destroy it. I wondered if there was a very small but strong tool to snip the metal band to get it off. I also wondered if I just pulled down the side that was hanging, could I deform the clip so it would be easy to get off. someone advised against that saying I could also deform the plastic so that it does not seal properly.
Has anyone figured out how to get this clip off without taking out the dash?
Everything I’ve read says to remove the three bolts to remove the blower motor. Nothing about removing any clips.
Tester
nothing about removing the dash? I’d rather take out the whole blower motor for sure then. I just looked at a picture of a blower motor and it showed a much smaller unit than I was trying to take apart. I am trying to clean out places where dirt/leaves/mold may have accumulated so that the heating and a/c run clean. behind the glove box is about a 10 inch diameter housing. I was trying to get the bottom off to clean out the old leaves and pine needles from it. Then i want to do the same thing when replacing the heater core.
If that’s what you’re trying to do, just remove the blower motor. Then you can reach into the housing to remove any debris. If you feel something soft and squishy, it’s probably a dead mouse.
Tester
that is a link that goes to a picture. if you click on enlarge, the clip looks like #4
i will try to attach it also
Well? If you’re hell-bent to remove that clip, find anything that’ll reach up between the clip and housing and pry it off. Are you removing the heater core to clean it? Or because it leaks? If to clean it, you never do that.
Tester
moldy a/c smell.
blower motor puts out chopped up pine needles and dirt and leaves.
don’t like using heat or a/c cause cannot stand them as are so am cleaning things out.
heater core not leaking, just want to get rid of anything moldy
I have an '89 Accord Se-i and have done this very job before. Do not remove those clips until you remove the three bolts that hold the entire housing in place, then remove the entire blower housing from beneath the dash (took me an hour to get it to fit out) and then remove those clips with the unit out of the dash. You will never get those out and the unit apart with it under there.
I have attached some of the photos I took when I did this job, I removed the glove compartment and the piece of trim below it, disconnected the electrical connectors, removed the three bolts that held the housing in, and removed the housing through the bottom of the dash.
I then removed those clips you are talking about (with the unit out of the car) and gained access to the interior. I removed the nut that held the fan to the motor, removed the fan, then removed the motor from the bottom and replaced it with the new one. Finally, I put it all back together and now have a working blower.
I can’t remember where the three bolts were. In this one of your pictures I reattached below…I am not exactly sure what these two big parts are called, but the one on the left - does it have its own 3 bolts? Then as you look farther right, you see that silver band that goes around between the two which connects to the big part on the right. Did you find anything in the bottoms of either housing like leaves and such?
Where is the evaporator case and heater core - do you know? Thanks a whole lot. I changed out my thermostat gasket today and tried to also do the D-ring that goes between the thermostat housing and the block. I could not figure out a way to get to those two bolts though. I wonder if the distrubutor has to come out to make room? Have you ever pulled off the t-stat housing or the distributor? Thanks again.
I have pulled the thermostat housing before (broke the two bolts off to get to the thermostat itself) and yes you do have to remove the distributor to get to those bolts. In that picture, I didn’t loosen anything with the black box on the left (it’s the A/C evaporator), I just removed the bolts that held on the heater blower housing (on the right) and then loosened the bolt on that silver clamp in between them. It’s a real pain to get out. The heater core is in another housing that is actually to the left of the A/C evaporator (it’s behind the radio), good luck getting to that, I’ve never needed to touch it.
Also, check out www.3geez.com it’s an entire website devoted to 86-89 Honda Accords, it’s where I go to learn how to work on it.
It’s nice to learn things and this is also learning. When Mr. Spock exposed himself to deadly radiation, which killed him; he thought first. Even though he did it to save the crew of the Enterprise, he didn’t just jump in before all other possibilities were exhausted.
That made me form a sort of philosophy. Don’t do anything that doesn’t have to be done. Don’t do anything that you are sure has to be done until it becomes absolutely necessary.
Since I don’t know if there was a problem, I can hope that this philosophy may help in the future. Even if it isn’t helpful to you, it may be helpful to somebody else who reads it. In conclusion; it was never intended that anybody should have to remove or disassemble those ducts. That’s why the job is so difficult. Maybe.
Now I can see what you’re talking about. I never went that deep, only changed the blower motor. Looks like you’re trying to take the whole show out . . . that’s why I didn’t remember the clips you’re having so much trouble with. If you’re trying to get mold out of it (after you change the motor and reach around inside to pull out the dirt) . . . I would use some type of cleaner on a rag and then spray an anti-mold spray inside before putting it back together. Taking that whole thing all apart is a real job . . . just getting to the blower motor was a trip for me. Rocketman
I cannot use my heat or a/c as it is. There are those times when I really need one or the other - like long drives in 20 some degree weather or when temps go 80s and up. It has been necessary for quite a long time and I need to find the places that can solve this and get them cleaned out. I want to accomplish all I can without taking out the dash, then take it out if need be, but maybe the ducts just slide forward and out - I don’t know. I think it is so difficult because I don’t know how to do it and have not done it before. For a pro, I think it would be just time consuming but not really hard.