Replacing the blower motor

I wonder if @dolj might have some ideas

 

That's weird. A centrifugal blower generally will push air the same way (in at the center, out at the periphery) whichever direction it spins. Because of the blade shape, it will push less air if spinning in the unintended direction, but it's never going to reverse the direction of airflow.

Often, the blade shape will fool you as to what the intended rotation direction is. Shaping those blades is complicated.

How did you verify the air was "sucked"?

 

Given you are in Australia, there is a good chance your blower is different than ours based on "the old motor [number] is 272700-8074."

That number is known as a housing number and is not the part number. However the housing number for a US Prius v is different which means our part number is also different.

Some used sellers think the housing number is the part number and therefore a buyer can sometimes find that number on ebay. I found your part on ebay in the UK and other locations outside of the US.

The thing to do is to ask for a part number from a local Toyota dealer, ideally in person, using your vin or vehicle serial number. With a part number, generally in this format (87103-0xxxx) you can then look for used blower assemblies or possibly aftermarket blowers and compare to a dealer price.

I found a few on ebay in Europe including the UK. Again this is not the part number.

The shipping and import charges are for a US address due to our current trade war. Your charges may be far less.

This blower has electronics in it to take a pulse train from the AC Amplifier ecu as control for the blower's variable speed power electronics.

From a wiring standpoint it is simple:

Constant power, ground and a signal line.

Finally, I would make sure the newer blower wheel has the same fin orientation as the original.

 

I have some questions about your post.

So to clarify, is your Prius v an Australian Market (ARL) model, or did you buy a JDM import, or is it an import from some other market? I ask because you are saying your car is a LHD. If it were an ARL or JDM, it would be a RHD. Or did you mean that you drive on the LHS of the road?

This would make sense if you got a fan for a car with the steering wheel on the opposite side of the car. The blower is located on the opposite side of the driver. If you really got an LHD unit for an RHD vehicle, that would make sense, as the blower enclosure, cage and fan would be a mirror image, and the motor would spin in the opposite direction.

The number stamped on the part is generally not a part number. Toyota stamps numbers that are in the same format as a part number, which are not part numbers, but more likely some kind of inventory or manufacturing number; not helpful.

If your car is really an ARL RHD Prius v (marketed in Japan as the Prius ⍺ (alpha)), then you can use part number 87103-12060; PNC 87103B - MOTOR SUB-ASSY, BLOWER W/FAN. It sells on Amayama for ~AU$265.32 plus about $10-12 shipping. There is an Amayama warehouse in Australia. I wasn't able to locate a source for an aftermarket equivalent part, but you could ask at Repco or SuperCheap if they have an aftermarket equivalent.

I hope that helps. Let me know if you have any questions.

 

It still wouldn't make very much sense, though, as the blower is a centrifugal design, and those characteristically will always move air the same direction (in at the center of the blower wheel, and out around its periphery into the enclosure volute) no matter which direction the motor spins. (See post #3.)

The shape of the blower wheel fins and of the enclosure typically make one spin direction better than the other: the blower will move lots of air if spinning the 'right' way, and move less air if spinning the 'wrong' way—but it'll still move the air the same direction. And it's harder than you'd expect to guess the 'right' rotation direction by looking at the curve of the fins; your intuition can fool you.

 

Typical hvac blower operation

 

The shape of the blower box and the position of the outlet do, though, do they not? Given that the outlet is offset to the front of the box, one direction would seem to be the correct one, yes?

On the RHD, the blower assembly is fixed to the LHS of the air conditioner radiator assembly; conversely,
On the LHD, the blower assembly is fixed to the RHS of the air conditioner radiator assembly.

RHD ---------------------------------- LHD


The above illustrations would suggest that the fan would rotate in one direction for the RHD, and for the LHD, it would rotate in the opposite direction. I'm no expert on these things, and happy to be wrong about the specifics, but my pick would be that the RHD would rotate clockwise (looking down from above) and the fan's fins (across the front) would be curved to the right. The LHD would rotate anticlockwise, and the fan's fins (across the front) would be curved to the left.

The illustration posted above by rj is the basic design of the LHD blower. The RHD blower is a mirror image of that.

 

Even if they have opposite rotation directions, though, the result would be anemic airflow, but not reversed airflow. Even when rotating opposite its preferred direction, a centrifugal blower moves the air in the centrifugal direction. Just less efficiently.

 

If you say so, I'm no fluid dynamics expert. If you mean by anemic and inefficient that it basically does not blow any air in the desired direction, then yeah, okay.

 

Regardless, a little more ebay reverse engineering

US version left hand drive CW from motor, CCW from blower wheel (Factory White Rotation Arrow on left pics)


UK version right hand drive CCW from Motor, CW from blower wheel

So the wrong blower will run in reverse with a wheel built for reversed rotation.
The enclosure has to be made for the rotation or the blower won't function.

In the op's case. she needs a US or other left hand drive blower.


Oem 87103-02210 or 87103-12080 (~$250)



Aftermarket 700249 or SK700249 (~$50)

 

No, I just mean it blows less.

A good demonstration was when I overhauled the blower motor in a GF's old Ford Galaxie. That motor was built with a brush holder you could put back two different ways and the bolt holes would line up either way. But putting it back the wrong way reverses the rotation direction.

There was no obvious problem that jumped out at first. You could hear the blower running just fine and air would blow out the vents when it ran. We just spent about half that winter thinking "hey, couldn't this car defog the windshield faster before?"