No pictures, but a small dissertation.
Fan was becoming erratic, stopping dead and other times crackling audibly with a smell of ozone. Like many people, I thought "Aha! Brushes need doing"...
Looking at Fleabay I determined the likely original brush length, then opened the motor up. Surprise! Plenty of brush left, plenty of spring pressure behind it. Hosed the whole lot with nail gun cleaner spray to remove old carbon dust and view the innards. Commutator was heavily worn but not really to the point of being problematic.
I went to war with my fan wiring connectors both on the motor and loom plug. Carefully picking the plastic housings apart or removing as appropriate, I soft soldered each crimp save for the two into the motor itself. I also lightly manipulated (distorted) each female part to ensure good grip on its male contact. Once cool, I reassembled with the plug housings, and reassembled. Care was taken to ensure all terminals were pushed fully home.
Result? Like new. Smooth, quiet, spark-free. All speeds work perfectly. Cost was a couple of hours, and a few cents worth of electricity and solder.
Cheers, Adam.
My take on the Xantia/406 Blower Fan
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