Noisy heater fan motor

[loz]

Help
Has anyone suffered this irritating problem of a squealy heater fan motor.
More to the point has anyone managed to cure it without forking out for a complete replacement unit????

[Graham]

Mine moans and groans when its running, i have had a look at the fan, and the motor appears to be held in with 3 screws, if this is the case could it be opened and part stripped to get some lubricant into the bearings which cause the noise in mine. I also have an anoying whistling noise when it is on cold but when i switch it to hot it goes quiet. . Has anyone cured our problems before??
Graham

[dkw_dude]

Help
Has anyone suffered this irritating problem of a squealy heater fan motor.
More to the point has anyone managed to cure it without forking out for a complete replacement unit????

Had the same problem a year or two ago on my 3B. Hmm (scratching my head trying to remember).
I removed the fan (had to remove the air ducting to the side vent first) pulled out the clip which secures the fan wheel, pulled fan wheel off the fan motor. The bearing was very dry, tryed to clean the bearing with some WD40. Then applied some thin oil to bearing, reassembled and it has been fine since!!

[jubjub]

Mine's not overly noisy, but has an intermttent problem.It works OK, but sometimes when you turn it on full - hot or cold - it does not come on at full speed. However if i leave it on and and go round a bend sharpish or roundabout, it suddenly kicks in at full speed

Any suggestions....

[s2avant]

That sounds like the resistor pack or more likely be a connector working loose. Something else to take a peek at on Saturday

Ben

[Martynf]

Hi Loz,

Mine did the same as yours for ages :-( drove me damn mad :-( when I fionally fitted another one, the bearing wasn't worn, just bone dry, so as DKW says, take it out and lube it. Its a little bit of a PITA to get out but not impossible. If it turns out you must have another, then dlr price is 223+vat, we're are 167+vat. It also happens to be the same motor used used in air con passats too!!

HTH
Martyn

[loz]

Thanks all

Thanks Guys
Looks like it may well be a low cost cure with the only penalty to pay being my old favourite of lying on my back half in the foot well whilst swearing to myself -hey if it gets rid of the noise its well worth it .
cheers
loz

Hi Loz,

Mine did the same as yours for ages :-( drove me damn mad :-( when I fionally fitted another one, the bearing wasn't worn, just bone dry, so as DKW says, take it out and lube it. Its a little bit of a PITA to get out but not impossible. If it turns out you must have another, then dlr price is 223+vat, we're are 167+vat. It also happens to be the same motor used used in air con passats too!!

HTH
Martyn

[John B]

I had exactly the same thing: it drove me nuts when I wanted to use the fan. Sometimes the noise would stop when going round a sharp corner.

Anyway, I decided to rectify the problem and removed the glove box, which was straightforward, to access the blower motor. In fact you don't need to do this in hindsight.

All you need to do is open th eglove box and remove the rubber dust cap for the blower motor bearing. It is obvious in the centre of the assembly. Then squirt some oil in there using a tube. I used some teflon based oil (slick 50) using a pump based squirter and a bit of tube from a WD40 can to get the lube in exactly the right place.

So far....it has been beautifully quiet ever since.

[Lloyd]

I had exactly the same thing: it drove me nuts when I wanted to use the fan. Sometimes the noise would stop when going round a sharp corner.

Anyway, I decided to rectify the problem and removed the glove box, which was straightforward, to access the blower motor. In fact you don't need to do this in hindsight.

All you need to do is open th eglove box and remove the rubber dust cap for the blower motor bearing. It is obvious in the centre of the assembly. Then squirt some oil in there using a tube. I used some teflon based oil (slick 50) using a pump based squirter and a bit of tube from a WD40 can to get the lube in exactly the right place.

So far....it has been beautifully quiet ever since.

I've had a look at the blower in my car and I don't have a rubber dust cover over the central bearing - just solid plastic! Do I have to remove the side vent duct to get the blower out? Advice on how to do this much appreciated. Thanks

Doh! The plastic cap DOES come off after all.

[DeanG]

Can't find the rubber dust cover!

Ok, so I have taken out the glove compartment. I can see the air blower! Is the rubber cover accessed from the bottom or the front of the unit?

Thanks,

Dean