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replacing blend motor

7K views 8 replies 5 participants last post by  scorpie 
#1 ·
I have had my 99 Range Rover 4.0 since new and have now determined the left blend motor is defective, although when I opened it up, it looked normal inside (the left side only blows cold air). The flap can be moved easily by hand. Instead of replacing all three motors, I opted to order only one from from an independent Land Rover specialist and they sent me a Valeo motor which looks the same, but only has two wires (brown and yellow) with a connector. The box says Land Rover on it and shows the logo. The wiring is also way shorter than the original and would never reach to the switch. I am thinking I got the wrong part, as the original blend motors are of course five wire, but the dealer I got the replacement from is not very helpful. Can anyone shed any light on this? I am an amateur self taught mechanic and I hate going to the dealer. I do have the factory manuals for it, but I am finding that this website is a much better resource in many cases. Thanks to everyone for that.

Canadian Range Rover with 310,000 km. on the clock and going strong. All major components original.
 
#2 ·
Hi

There is more info about the blend motors on the main site:

http://www.rangerovers.net/repairdetail ... motor.html

There are recirculation flaps that have the same kind of blend motors fitted as the climate ac/heater blend flaps and distribution flap but these motors do not have a position feedback potentiometer and the ecu determines its end positions just by the increase in amperes when the motor stalls. The recirculation flaps are positioned only in the two end positions and do not need the feedback signal.

In other words your dealer has supplied the wrong part and the blend motor you need is only available as a set of 3. You can of course cut off one of the blend motors and splice it into the wiring loom of the one you intend to replace.

The set of 3 blend motor units are extremely expensive. It pays to have a look on ebay UK as from time to time new units are for sale for a bargain price. Last week one set was for sale for 150 pound, while normal prices are usually around 220 pound.

Good luck

Jos
 
#3 ·
scorpie said:
I have had my 99 Range Rover 4.0 since new and have now determined the left blend motor is defective, although when I opened it up, it looked normal inside (the left side only blows cold air). The flap can be moved easily by hand. Instead of replacing all three motors, I opted to order only one from from an independent Land Rover specialist and they sent me a Valeo motor which looks the same, but only has two wires (brown and yellow) with a connector. The box says Land Rover on it and shows the logo. The wiring is also way shorter than the original and would never reach to the switch. I am thinking I got the wrong part, as the original blend motors are of course five wire, but the dealer I got the replacement from is not very helpful. Can anyone shed any light on this? I am an amateur self taught mechanic and I hate going to the dealer. I do have the factory manuals for it, but I am finding that this website is a much better resource in many cases. Thanks to everyone for that.

Canadian Range Rover with 310,000 km. on the clock and going strong. All major components original.
You got the blend motors for the fresh air flaps. The motors for the blend flaps have 5 wires.
Just unsolder the motor from the new item and replace.
 
#4 ·
Thanks very kindly for the clarification on this guys. This is the sort of thing the factory manual does not give any detail on, and that's what makes this such a great site. I was going to get rid of my vehicle last year, but decided to keep it as I wouldn't know what to buy for a new one. We bought my wife a new BMW X5 diesel last year which is fabulous and of course a real contrast to the Range Rover, but I am concerned about the increasing complexity of new vehicles and very little ability to work on them. My experience with taking vehicles to repair shops has been that invariably, a mechanic will break something while doing a repair and won't bother to mention it. My experience with the LR dealer has been disgusting, to say the least. I'm very happy with most aspects of my 4.0 (Bosch). The biggest problems have been with the heating and cooling system.
 
#5 ·
310K km = 192K miles. Nice!

and you owned it from new... very impressed. Can't shed any light on your blend motors, but glad to hear the rest of the truck has been running relatively smooth.

Even with the electronic gremlins in the P38, the wealth of knowledge on this site makes almost anything do-able as a self-mechanic. The newer cars have many more electronic and no-one will touch them except the dealers. Not my cup of tea...
 
#6 ·
zhoey said:
You got the blend motors for the fresh air flaps. The motors for the blend flaps have 5 wires.
Just unsolder the motor from the new item and replace.
Is this right? I hope so. As stated above, blend motor sets are very expensive and so if it is as easy as soldering in low cost motors like these http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=YM2706&CATID=9&form=CAT&SUBCATID=306, I am surprised that all the forum discussions and range rover websites dont describe this fix. I just picked up a full set of distribution and temp blend motors for AUD160 which is a good price, but I would have preferred to go with new motors.

As with the OP, I had only cold on one side and my cogs in the distribution flap motor looked fine, the flaps moved easily and also the motor turned when current was applied directly to it. I will be very interested to see if my new blend motors fix the problem, because if they do, it means that the blend motor boxes are not easily testable on the workbench.
 
#7 ·
Hi

As mentioned in my previous post the blendmotors have potentiometers in them that report the position that they are in back to the ecu. When the tracks in the potentiometers go bad the signal to the ecu is not correct at times and the ecu will log a faultcode and stops sending signals to the faulty motor. The elctromotor for the operation is probably ok.

If you want to be a pioneer you can dismantle the unit and fit in an other potentiometer and if you can find the right parts fix the units for a fraction of the new price.

Good luck

Jos
 
#9 ·
Thanks for the further input on this guys. Since my last post, I received a new set of blend motors from the U.S. for $400.00, which is probably not bad. I opened the back of the connector on the presumably bad motor, did the same on the new one, pushed the pins out, and replaced only the one motor. That gives me the others as spare parts when they go, but my old ones work fine in the meantime. The installation looks the same as it came from the factory and everything works 100%, glad to say. I'm going to try testing the old motor when I have a chance. My next job will be to replace the timing chain because it is probably getting stretched by this time, which I'm not sure I have the nerve to tackle. The job doesn't look that difficult in the book, but there may be more to it than I see. Also, while it's opened up, I might as well change the water pump as well. I hope I can contribute some way in the future to help other owners keep theirs going.
 
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