Well, I really don't understand this. :Confused:
Opened up the connector, all looked good, joined it up again and nothing.
A bit of wiggling, still nothing, then just moved it a bit to try and prod the motor and suddenly it's all working. :tuttut:

Currently it's back in it's mounting clips, appears properly joined, and is all working OK. Trouble is there's almost no slack to work with and just a small gap through the intake flaps to work in.

My suspicion is that somehow one of the (thick) cables isn't terminated properly onto the contacts inside one half the connector as the mating surfaces look fine.
I think I might buy a connector pair, make up a short lead to bridge the two halves and try to work out which side is suspect.

You could try squashing the pins (very slightly) too to make them a tighter fit. Had a similar problem with my washer motor recently. The connector seemed fine and it worked again when I dismantled half of the car to get to it. Put everything back and the damn thing stopped working again. After stripping the car down again I found that wiggling the wires didn't affect it but pushing on the connector did. So I gave the pins a light squeeze with long-nose pliers and that seemed to fix it.

Failing that, it's probably a bad connection where the wires attach to the pins, as you suggested, but it should be possible to determine if it is that by wiggling/pushing/pulling them.

I've already done what I can to tighten the pin/contacts.
Lobbed an email to our sponsors to see if they can supply a pair of connectors (ideally with pigtails) so I can test/experiment a bit more and decide what exactly is giving an intermittent connection.

I guess it could even be at the motor end, which would be beyond my personal capabilities I think.

If you can't get the connectors, to save cutting wires you could make up a couple of connector 'bypass' leads using 'bed of nails' test clips to determine if the problem is at the connector or the motor.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1pair-Angl...-/281896808055


http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/products/7148281/

Thanks, I have quite a few ideas on how to bypass the connector, but those look handy. ;)
I do want to avoid cutting wires if at all possible as they are already pretty short.

It might as well be blower motor gone. Quite common in cars with solar sunroof as it's working overtime. When mine went it would sometimes work , sometimes not and if you hit near it or went over pothole it would start working again. Eventually it got slower and more non working than working. I was hoping it's just the brushes worn but turned out that while brushes were low it was mostly due to slip ring/commutator wear so I got replacement from A8parts. I did ask them for one from a car without solar sunroof and the one I received was very good condition with minimal wear.

If it is, how easy is it to replace?

I actually fitted a cutoff switch on the solar panel circuit to stop the constant tickover of the fan unless I wanted it on, though it had many years before my ownership.

I've just done one. Not easy at all, although I had the engine out which helped considerably! :D

2 challenges:

1, two of the screws for the blower cover are underneath the rear section of the airbox under the windscreen cowl. You can't remove this section with the blower in place, but you can't get directly to the blower screws with this section in place. I have a tiny ratchet which takes screwdriver bits which allows me to get to these two screws from the side instead. If you don't have such a thing then a flexible screwdriver might work. Failing that, remove the wiper mechanism and then you can detach the rear section and it will move about just enough to get a long straight screwdriver in, assuming the screws are in good condition. To remove that section with the blower in place you need to either remove the brake servo or the electronics box and aircon pipes. Utter madness.

2, in every D2 I've worked on 95% of the screws in the airbox are rusty stumps due to it sucking in our nice damp atmosphere. It takes a lot of patience to dig out the phillips-slots in the screw heads and then still many of the heads snap off when you finally get a grip on them with a screwdriver. A good pair of mole grips works for some of them, but access is difficult to most.

A brand new blower is just shy of £300, but remarkably in UK stock so available next day. I always keep a dozen of the little screws on hand so I can replace whatever does come out with new.

If it does turn out to be that I might ask you very nicely and have a trip down to Devon.......

I can attest to the aircon airbox screws being completely rusted. Already snapped head off one. And this is on a car that lived in Germany. Why didn't they use stainless or anodised screws the cheapskates?
You may want to try mixing up a solution of acetone and vegetable oil (from the supermarket). Around 50/50. It makes for a very good penetrating oil. Leave it soaked for a few hours then it may reduce the chance of those screws snapping.