Squeaky blower motor.

[Heat Seeking Missile]

For a few weeks I've had an awful squeaking and grinding noise coming from my blower motor. It was worst on setting 1 and was better on setting 3, which got worse when I hit a bump or went round a corner, so I thought the fan was catching on the housing it sits in and trying to stall the motor.

Today I got a few minutes so I thought I'd take the glove box out and have a look to see if I could tighten anything up to stop this awful noise. I took the 5 screws out that hold the motor and the fan in, but I cant get it all out, it still seems like there is another one right up at the top, covered by a set of wires and the ducting for the passenger side air vents (not something I particularly fancy having to take out).



With only possibly one screw holding the fan and motor in, I could still move the whole lot about as you'd expect, and get about 1" gap at the bottom, enough to see the fan itself, so I switched it on, tried all the settings and tried wobbling it about and guess what......no squeaking/grinding noise what so ever

Anyone got any ideas as to what I can try next, or how to get the whole unit out?

I also found something else which I haven't got a clue about but I'm almost certain its not related so it'll have its own thread.

Cheers,

Mark

[Greg_S]

It is probably the bearing in the motor making the noise. I had this issue and just got a second hand motor from a breakers which turned out not to make the noise

[Heat Seeking Missile]

Cheers Greg, if thats the case, how do I get the old one out? Is there another hidden screw that means I'll have to take that ducting out?

Mark

[Dubbedup]

Cheers Greg, if thats the case, how do I get the old one out? Is there another hidden screw that means I'll have to take that ducting out?

Mark

Either take the dash out or get creative, TBH, I just used a flat screwdriver to push the screw around, took forever, but better than taking the dash out.

[4WheelDrifter]

You might be able to get a bit from a multi-head screwdriver in there, with a spnnaer to turn it. The fan is also stuck in with the usual black goo.

[quattro20v]

First take all of the screws off ,then you have to remove the electrical connectors for fan.
Then push the fan in to the ducting housing from the elect. connectors. Take the back plate off and then the fan.

They don't come away from the housing if they are still together.

You can release the ducting for the passenger side air vent and move it up for some extra room.

Sorry for my english. Hope this helps

[Heat Seeking Missile]

Your English is fine dude. I may try and loosen that ducting after all.

The "goo" is all off too. But there's still something at the top holding it in. Does the carbon effect trim come off easily? Might try and get at it through there.

Mark

[4WheelDrifter]

Removing the carbon trim won't help.

[Heat Seeking Missile]

Removing the carbon trim won't help.

Ok I'll leave it on. Cheers.

Mark

[maddagent]

I've the same problem - squeaky blower, esp on lower settings.

I'm about to get my hands on another blower motor, let me know if you figure a way to do this without pulling the dash - I'd love to not have to do that, even if the alternative involves lying upside down on the passenger seat for an extended period of time....

[Heat Seeking Missile]

I've the same problem - squeaky blower, esp on lower settings.

I'm about to get my hands on another blower motor, let me know if you figure a way to do this without pulling the dash - I'd love to not have to do that, even if the alternative involves lying upside down on the passenger seat for an extended period of time....

I cant attempt to get mine out or even get to a scrappy to look for one until Friday as I'm on 12 hour days until then. I'll give it a go without having to take the dash out, that really is a last ditch attempt.

Mark

[Greg_S]

It was quite easy to remove blower motor. Get in the footwell and remove the little cover from there.

Remove resistor pack

and from memory there were one or two screws and the blower motor twists and drops out.

[Heat Seeking Missile]

Right, I spent all day today tearing apart Audi 80 dashboards of all ages to replace my blower motor, only to find every single one was different to the one I have, even to the point of being mounted the other way up.

The only conclusion I can come to is that all the 80's I looked at, had no A/C, do 80's with A/C have a different motor?

Mark

[S-Express]

Mark, can't you pull the motor out of the fan housing without removing the whole lot?
Have you tried going at it from the intake side? (scuttle panel) it takes 2 seconds to whip the pollen filter out and you can then touch the fan's impeller but from the engine bay side rather than fottwell side. maybe even empty a can of WD40 in it from above??

[Heat Seeking Missile]

I didn't know you could get at it from the scuttle panel side, might give that a try tomorrow. I'm trying to get the motor out of its housing but there's one really awkward screw holding it in that I cant see how to get to.

Mark