86 Van: easy way to remove heater motor?

I need to remove the heater motor on my '86 toyota van. It is
making a horrible grinding noise that just keeps getting worse.

I searched this group and the closest I could find was a Rick Jones
message from 1997 saying that he knew a quick way that would take about
a half an hour as opposed to 3.5 if you didn't know the trick.

I know Rick Jones now goes by another name, but MDT Tech hasn't posted
here since March.

Does anyone know the trick?

Can anyone share their heater motor removal expereinces with me?


Thanks,

Michael Weiss

I figured it out the hard way. After taking most of the dash apart...

If anyone else wants to know the easy way here it is:

Remove the glove box and a few electronic modules and you should
see the back of the heater motor. It is attached to the plastic
housing
with three screws, but the are almost impossible to get at, and even if
you do, the motor will not pull straight out because there is a metal
brace
right in front of the motor. The trick is the plastic thing that the
motor is
attached to, will split in two, if you remove a couple of clips and
undo a
screw. Then the front half of the plastic peice can be lowered and the
motor is a cinch to remove.

Michael Weiss

On Thu, 06 Oct 2005 12:57:09 -0700, Michael Weiss wrote:
[color=blue]
> I figured it out the hard way. After taking most of the dash apart...
>
> If anyone else wants to know the easy way here it is:
>
> Remove the glove box and a few electronic modules and you should
> see the back of the heater motor. It is attached to the plastic
> housing
> with three screws, but the are almost impossible to get at, and even if
> you do, the motor will not pull straight out because there is a metal
> brace
> right in front of the motor. The trick is the plastic thing that the
> motor is
> attached to, will split in two, if you remove a couple of clips and
> undo a
> screw. Then the front half of the plastic peice can be lowered and the
> motor is a cinch to remove.
>
> Michael Weiss[/color]


Oh, shoot you meant BLOWER MOTOR! I couldn't figure out what a "heater
motor" was!