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I've got squealing/chirping in my cabin aswell. I took the whole blower out and run it but I did not hear any extra noise coming from the fan. The noise seems to be coming from behind the center vents rather than from the footwell.
Also I would like to know from previous posters if the fan speed had any affect to the squealing sound? Mine is static no matter whats the fan speed or if the AC is on auto or off
Is it possible that there is some other part making such noise? I can upload a video if needed. A new fan would be $300+ so trying to figure out if I need one or not..
The chirp from mine seems to speed up if I increase the speed setting while it's chirping.
Since you got it out, why not drive like that to see if the chirp is gone?
The chirp from mine seems to speed up if I increase the speed setting while it's chirping.
Since you got it out, why not drive like that to see if the chirp is gone?
I couldnt hear the chirping when the fan was lying on the footwell since it makes quite a bit of noise even on low speed settings. I also could not videotape the chirp because of my lousy phone (and diesel rattle )
Also the chirp frequency is static and is not related to fan speed. I am 95% sure it is coming from behind the center air vents. I hope it has nothing to do with core evaporator since I had it changed in the summer.
Could be some regulator maybe? I'll take this to shop again soon, it is too difficult problem for me to solve.
Thanks for the offer Javvy but the shipping and customs would be too much to North Europe
I have a squeak-rattle that seems like its coming from inside the dash between the center vent and the instrument panel. My next step is to remove the center vents and drive it that way for a while to see if I can better pinpoint the noise. Fingers crossed it's just one of the cables I had installed for me head unit that I didn't wrap well enough.
I also have a small plastic rattle coming from inside or behind the HVAC (analog) control panel underneath the radio. It's an annoying, tiny loose plastic piece rattle. I can stop it easily if I just press on the panel or jimmy a fingernail or business card in between the panel and the radio fascia panel. I've all ready torn apart the HVAC control panel, added silicone grease and superglued loose parts that I thought would be making the noise ... unfortunately this hasn't helped. And I don't want to spend $100-300 on a new control :|
As for the fan chirp, I have had that twice now. Each time I pulled the fan, liberally spray-lubed the bearings from the outside, and it has stopped the noise for several months before returning. So I have to believe it's one of the bearings or something inside the armature.
I have the same chirping sound coming from the glove compartment. Followed Cintoman detailed instruction, but I could not get the cover off the blower. So I opened the rubber cover and sprayed some liquid wrench into the "purple" area as Cintoman described, spun the thing around a few times. Reconnected the wiring and tested it before I reinstalled it.
Fyi, I've totally forgotten about this ... I do recall hearing a bit of softer chirping a long while back -- maybe last winter -- but otherwise nothing really serious since post #80 which is almost two years now ...
Wow....it's been quite a while since I wrote up this post and had this issue. I can report that ever since I took the blower unit apart and sprayed some lubricant in there, I haven't had the problem since. So it's been close to 4 years already. I'll have to see if it comes back at all with the weather starting to get a bit colder.
Glad to hear my post helped you out firstdown80 !!
This thread is here to stay, Clintoman. My 2003 C320 began to make this noise about a month ago and it's getting more persistent now. I am pretty sure it's coming from the blower motor. But it's a little cold for DIY at this time of the year here in Toronto.
Dealer quoted me CAD$573 for the blower motor itself! Dealer is ripping us more in Canada. I'll have to tolerate the noise for another 6-7 months and try to lubricate the thing in spring time.
I believe I might need a new blower regulator too. My fan sometimes won't come on, and then it'll start blowing by itself. And sometimes, while it's blowing, it'll stop and then blow again. I don't think this has anything to do with the motor itself. It's more like a regulator that get confused at times. Dealer is asking for CAD$633 for this piece, crazy. I can get it from ECS for US$83.60.
Haha mcheung....nearly 6 years later and the post continues to resurface. Awesome!
TO!! Haven't been up there in over 20 years. Have a lot of family up there. Would like to maybe get back up there this coming summer.
Well, when mine was having the issues, there were times when the blower wouldn't even come on at all. I'd have to crank it to "full speed", shut it off, hit "AUTO" mode, and repeat to hopefully get it going. And once it did, the squeaking was nearly constant. So it might just be the blower that's seizing up. Best way to try it would be to lubricate it and see if the fan still doesn't come on.
I have another issue that's been happening occasionally which may be similar to yours. Seems to happen only when I have the climate control in "AUTO" mode. And I've noticed it more when I have the A/C on. With it on "AUTO" and blowing full power (to cool the interior down), the climate control will all of a sudden just stop and turn off. Fan off, lights off, everything off. I'll hit the "AUTO" button again, and it'll start back up, sometimes for good, and other times it'll shut off again after a few minutes, and occasionally after only a few seconds. I'll fight with it for quite a bit: hit AUTO, turns on, shuts off, I hit AUTO again, turns on, shuts off, etc. Eventually, I'll just turn the fan on manually and it's fine. So I'm not sure if that's the same thing you might be experiencing or not.
Cintoman, will certain keep everyone updated. Given the weather, it may take a few months.
My blower-not-coming-on problem has been there for a few years. In recent 2-3 years, the blower-sudden-off-then-back-on problem develops. When the blower-sudden-off happens, the light in the control is still on. But for both problem, very occasionally, I can press AUTO and blower comes back on. I'll try lubricate the blower motor first to see if that helps.
I actually have another problem. No air is coming out from the front passenger footwell. I suspect it's the stepper motor that's gone. I am yet to figure out which one controls the footwell and I am afraid I have to dissemble the dash to get to it. I did that once and don't want to do it again.
I took advantage of the unseasonably warm weather and followed the steps to take out the blower and lubricate it. The noise has gone! It's been two days and I hope the noise isn't coming back.
Thank you Cintoman for the steps and the pictures. It took me 15 minutes to take the blower out, another 15 mins to take out the blower motor as I was being extremely careful to avoid damaging anything. Remounting the blower was a little more difficult as it's in a rather awkward position. I had a sore shoulder for a day as a result. The steps to take the motor out from the blower motor assembly was actually somewhat simpler. I'll post it when I have a chance.
mcheung, great to hear you got that squeaking taken care of. Thanks for updating us. Yeah, the weather down here in RI (south of Boston) has been unseasonably mild. Crazy to see temps this warm in mid-December.
To remove the blower motor, you can follow the steps Cintoman provided. Here are some remarks.
1) After taking the blower motor out, the black round rubber cap that you need to remove is the little round soft plastic thingy. After removing the rubber cap, you'll see the torx screw. Remove the torx screw.
2) Here's the part that can be simplified a little. After removing the torx screw, the blower motor housing cover is supposed to come off. There's no need to remove the white plastic. From the picture below, you'll see the white plastic triangular snap still stays intact with the housing cover. Notice it has the "BEHR" marking.
3) Taking off the housing cover, below is what you have. Disconnect the regulator from the motor, then you can start lubricating.
4) Little tip: to avoid the lubricate from getting into the motor, I cover the motor and just leave expose the tip of the shaft where you want to spray.
5) This is the lubricant I used. This is the only one I can find that specifically says it lubricates bearing. Not sure if it really makes a difference. But I see it has bearings drawn on the can! That's why I chose this one. I got it from the Canadian Tire for under $10.
I then use the spray tube to focus the spray in the gap beside the spinning shaft. Step 1: Spray, Step 2: Spin the blower manually to let it sip through, Step 3: Wipe off excess. I just repeated these 3 steps until I felt like enough lubricant got in.
Hope these notes together with Cintoman original steps can help someone in the future.
Wow... 5 years to the day, and my chirping came back again. Since I had some spare time this weekend, I decided to spray some of the lubricant I used last time into the blower motor spindle.
This time though, I didn't even bother taking the blower motor apart. I simply removed the plastic cover behind the glove box, removed the little rubber cap on the bottom of the motor plastic housing, snaked the tiny lubricant straw where the spinning spindle is located, and sprayed some lubricant. After starting the car and turning on the heater, there's no longer any squealing.
This is the top result on google for "W204 blower cricket noise" so I thought I'd post here instead of the W204 forum.
The rubber cap thingy gave me hope since I'd tried and failed to get the motor out once before. I think I was missing a clip somewhere -- I just couldn't twist it loose and gave up instead of breaking it.
I opened it up again last night and while there was no rubber cap on my motor there was a little hole right in the right place:
Of course I'd lost the little straw for the lube so after searching for a few minutes I kicked myself and just took off the cap:
I can't believe the difference it made. It wouldn't be nearly as bad if the rest of the car was more noisy. My drive to work this morning was the most enjoyable one I've had since I first bought the car.
If I hadn't found this thread I'd have taken it to the dealers and paid for a new motor.
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