We found that the fresh-air flaps were broken. Previously repaired, the JB weld din't hold.
Also, it looks like the blower had broken at some time, and the squirrel cage melted a hole through the case.
The melted case dripped into the evaporator core and gooped it all up.
So when it was all said and done, the original case was wasted. Time to go to the wrecking yard and get a different one.
"New" Case - went to Bavarian Auto Recycling and got another complete climate case.
This case looked really good. It was complete, except for the cut wiring harness and control cables which were good on our case. I thought it would be a simple case of swapping everything over. The problem came when I tried to remove the wires that go to the blower and the resistor. I could not get them out of the case and had to cut and solder the old wiring to the new case's wiring.
This "new" case also had a recently replaced heater core and heater valve, which is a plus. But I had to put the aluminum tubes from our case on this, since the ends had started to corrode.
I also stepped up and bought new gaskets to seal the case back into the car. $50.00 for the 2 foam gaskets.
"New" Case - went to Bavarian Auto Recycling and got another complete climate case.
This case looked really good. It was complete, except for the cut wiring harness and control cables which were good on our case. I thought it would be a simple case of swapping everything over. The problem came when I tried to remove the wires that go to the blower and the resistor. I could not get them out of the case and had to cut and solder the old wiring to the new case's wiring.
This "new" case also had a recently replaced heater core and heater valve, which is a plus. But I had to put the aluminum tubes from our case on this, since the ends had started to corrode.
I also stepped up and bought new gaskets to seal the case back into the car. $50.00 for the 2 foam gaskets.
Also, when we swapped the carpet, we ripped the drain tubes. So we bought new ones ($27.00) A good move overall. We won't have to worry about it leaking back into the car.
The new case installed.
So with the case installed, I hope to put all the new hoses on the engine and see if this thing runs. We need to figure out if we are going to keep the used motor, rebuld it or swap something bigger into it. I would prefer to keep the 4cyl M42 engine for now. I think this would be best for a 16 year old to learn to drive with. We can always go bigger later. Plus the gas mileage will be better for now. My hope is the motor is good and it was just all the rotted hoses that were causing the problems.
I know we are kinda doing things in a weird order, but the car stunk so bad I wanted to get the interior out and swapped before the rain starts. We have all the interior now, so while I figure out the engine, the Boy can work on putting the interior back together.
We have 97 323i E36 4dr seats (Black Vinyl) and 88 325ix rear seats (Black Leather) with headrests and armrest. We have another dash (no cracks) and climate controls (no broken switches). Still need some different black door panels.
Oh and we have cleaned out the trunk and got different carpet. I'll post some pics later.
