How to Change the Blower Motor in a 1996 Buick Park Ave

The 1997 model year brought about a redesign of Buick's luxury sedan, the Park Avenue. This redesign lengthened the Park Avenue by about one inch, widened it by about a half inch and extended the wheelbase by three inches. The 1997 Park Avenue came standard with a 205-horsepower, 3.8-liter V-6 engine. This full-sized sedan also came with air conditioning standard. A blower motor and fan distributed the cool or hot air throughout the vehicle's cabin. Buick mounted the blower motor in the engine compartment, and you must remove the strut tower brace to remove it.

Instructions

1

Loosen the three nuts on either end of the strut tower brace -- the metal bar spanning the rear of the engine compartment -- using a ratchet and socket. Remove the strut tower brace from the engine compartment.

2

Unplug the wiring harness from the rear of the blower motor by pressing the locking button and pulling the harness from the motor. Pull the blower motor cooling tube -- the short, plastic tube -- off the blower motor.

3

Remove the five bolts from the blower motor and pull it from the heater box and out of the engine compartment.

4

Insert the new blower motor into the heater box and tighten the five bolts to 1 foot-pound, using a torque wrench and socket. Reconnect the blower motor cooling tube and the blower motor wiring harness.

5

Set the strut tower brace back in its place on the Park Avenue and tighten its retaining nuts to 18 foot-pounds, using a torque wrench and socket.