Packard Forum Index » Post-War (1946-54)

The terms “heater fan” and “blower” conjure up different things in my mind, so they probably are different. I’m not sure the heater in ‘48 used motors like these, but they are available and were used by Ford in heaters for over 10 years. I paid more a few years ago to have the one that failed rebuilt.,These were cheaply made motors to begin with. I replaced my under the seat heater with one.

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Heaters were not present on the very early 22nd series cars so I suspect they were still treated as an add on option like the earlier heaters were as far as wiring diagrams were concerned. Most options were not even shown on wiring diagrams until the multi page 22-23 series and later diagrams came along.

The motor does only have one wire for voltage feed and a second short wire connected to a convenient screw on the sheet metal for ground. When the switch is turned on to high speed 6v is sent to the motor. On the back of the switch is a resistor which is placed in the circuit when low speed is selected and that resistor reduces voltage by a volt or so and motor does not run as fast to provide the second speed. Some year switches even had a medium range with a different resistance that could be added for the third speed. Resistors can be open wire wound coils or ceramic covered wire and even some switches have carbon elements pressed together. All get fairly hot when in use. The switch in the photo is open wire type and is protected from other things touching it by a heat shield.

It is possible the motor has seized but with the old fabric covered wire it is also possible a chunk of insulation has fallen off somewhere and the wire is shorted. You would need to access the blower and see if the wheel moves to determine if it is seized. Possibly removal would be the only way although if there is any fabric duct between the blower and air vent tube it might be possible to remove that duct and reach the wheel to see if it would move.




I doubt you will find a real Packard supplied motor anymore unless somebody happens to throw a NOS on ebay. You could probably find a used complete assy but as Joe said other mfgs used similar motors so you might find one of those on ebay that would work. Downside to taking a chance there is unless the vendor provide specifications as to mounting dimension that you could compare with your old motor you take a chance on another brand motor not being able to bolt in.

The modern universal motor will in most cases either drop right in or at worst will only take a very small amount of modification to fit.

The universal motors will work with either polarity. You will need to experiment with hooking it up. Try the red wire to ground and black to voltage first and if the wheel turns the correct way to blow out a good stream of air then make the connections permanent. If it runs backwards then reverse the wires.

Todd if you want to throw that in a box and send it to me I could probably fix it for you. As long as the motor windings are not melted.

PM me if you're interested and I'll send you my address.

P.S. If you can detach the heater core from the blower it would drop the shipping probably in half.

If you keep removing every screw in sight it should come apart.

Don’t try to remove the motor from the housing. Just separate the blower housing from the heater core section.

I personally have not taken the blower assy apart on that style heater but if like the later models removing the screws circled and another that might be hidden in the photo will allow the mounting plate along with the motor and wheel still atached to come out of the housing. Once the wheel can be accessed then it is a matter of loosening a setscrew and using a puller and whatever else that might be needed to remove the wheel from the shaft in order to access the nuts holding the motor to the plate.