Re: Frigikar air conditioning in my Packard

Posted by 19482255 On 2014/5/26 14:27:13

Came to this thread late but I just went through this with the heater blower motor in my '63 Dodge Dart. It worked but was throaty and scratchy-sounding. Thought maybe the bearings were shot and I thought I might have to replace the motor. New motors (like the one pointed to) aren't very expensive, but when you care about originality, it made me think again.

A friend and I disassembled the motor and quickly discovered the reason the motor sounded tired was because the Oilite bearings and the surrounding felt washers were bone-dry. They weren't even terribly worn. We did have to undertake some light drilling to remove some tiny rivets (the motor wasn't intended to be taken apart and serviced), but by the time we heated the old bearings up to sweat out the old oil, dunked them in new oil, lubricated the felt washers, and re-assembled the armature brushes and bearings, the motor ran better than new.

I would definitely have encouraged you to tear apart the old motor to repair it. If you compare old electrical motors against new ones, many old motors are made with extremely high-quality components, and unlike new motors, they can be taken apart and repaired. New motors have planned obsolescence built-in: they are designed to function and then once they break down, be thrown away.