pics of my melted fuse box (finally)

[paperplane94]

I can't stress this enough: Stop posting bad info. You're flat out incorrect on this, as plenty of cars have burned with stock fuses in them. This is 100% a problem with the blower motor circuit and NOTHING to do with fuses. If fuses were so far over or under rated, we would have issues with them every time we use them, rather than having issues on one circuit. On one car. On that one generation of that car.

If you were putting a higher RATED fuse, that could cause an issue because it would never blow until the wiring on the circuit you were over fusing would become the fuse, but that's not the case in this scenario.

There aren't "thinner" aftermarket fuses. Fuses are rated for the amperage they're rated for. You can go buy a random sampling of a million fuses, and you'll find very little variance in both thickness of spades or the point they blow at.

Flat out, the issue is that the wiring is too narrow a gauge for a fan with worn brushes. The fan pulls 15 amps when new (for example) and is fused at 30 amps. If the fan were jammed the current draw would be way more than 30 amps and it would blow the fuse. However, as the brushes wear, the resistance goes up. The fuse is still rated at 30 amps, but now the current draw is 20 amps. The wiring is something like 16 gauge, run the fan for an hour or two and you'll find the wiring has melted down. The current draw was never more than the circuit was designed for, but the designers never accounted for brush wear, and the wiring does not have the capacity to shed heat.

So then after replacing the blower motor, would it be advisable to change the wiring to a larger gauge and have an appropriate fuse?
Or would that be too much work (probably would be) so stock wiring is fine with a good motor.

[Binjammin]

So then after replacing the blower motor, would it be advisable to change the wiring to a larger gauge and have an appropriate fuse?
Or would that be too much work (probably would be) so stock wiring is fine with a good motor.

Not really necessary, and a lot of work. Took 15-20 years and a couple hundred thousand miles to die the first time, odds are strong it wont double those numbers in the lifetime of ownership of anyone around here by the time another failure comes knocking.

[Emons34]

"rebuild kit" That's priceless. $.50 worth of brushes and a fingernail file.

By the time the brushes in these wear down the bushings are shot.
These motors are NOT worth repairing. Even my write up to use a the cheaper MB spec motor with your old cages strains cost effectiveness as it is time consuming.
REPLACE the motor, they are not worth repairing.

I have to agree with ross, I pulled a few of these motors from local junk yards for the sole purpose to "rebuild" one with new brushes and install in my car. But I could never find one in good enough shape that would be worth the $15 in brushes. Every one i pulled had way to much resistance when i would spin them and nearly all squeaked... If the brushes are worn down, the bushings are shot.

RockAuto has them for $149.