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Advice on Chirping Blower Motor Replacement (Passenger Footwell)
Greetings! The blower motor which is under the glovebox in the passenger foot well is making the "cricket" chirping sound. After doing some research here and on other sites, it seems that the blower motor is the culprit. I removed the panel under the glovebox and confirmed that the noise was coming from the blower motor.
A replacement motor is about $160 and I've read the dealer cost is $650 and up. I'd like to give it a shot to replace this blower motor on my own!
Before I buy the part and get myself in trouble, I have some questions I'm hoping you guys can help me with:
1) How is the motor attached? I didn't see any screws or fasteners. Do you twist it to take it out?
2) I see two electrical connectors. Is it safe to assume I can just pull these out? Do I need to disconnect the main car battery?
3) On a similar note, it looks like there are two different electrical connections. On the replacement part photo, it only shows one connector. Any insight into why?
4) Overall, any advice you can share would be greatly appreciated! Warnings, encouragement, etc.
You rock! I installed the part just now. Probably saved $600 vs. the dealer. And you saved me big on the part cost.
I appreciate your knowledge. Thanks a million!
Very cool. As these cars get older, more and more folks will be doing repairs like this. Were you able to take any pictures of the process? Steps call for removing glove box and cover on right side of dash as well as pulling the blower. It would be very good for the community that when these fairly simple jobs are done, that pictures of the process are shared.
Very cool. As these cars get older, more and more folks will be doing repairs like this. Were you able to take any pictures of the process? Steps call for removing glove box and cover on right side of dash as well as pulling the blower. It would be very good for the community that when these fairly simple jobs are done, that pictures of the process are shared.
I ended up not removing the glove box. It's a little awkward laying on your back with your head where the passenger's feet usually go, but it was bearable. I imagine that with the glove box removed, you'd have more space to work and it would be easier to take photos, but at the cost of however many minutes it takes to remove and re-install the glove box.
Total job took about 15 minutes. I ended up disconnecting the main battery before working, just as a precaution.
Isn't there a way to grease that thing instead of replacing it?
Lubricating it was the first avenue I researched. I found step by step instructions for this on a thread, but it wasn't for a W212. Glad I didn't go down that route.
I should have taken a photo of the old blower. It was blackened on the inside. Black powder fell out of it. It was toast!
I thought my blower bearings were going bad as well and was ready to replace the blower motor, however, I began to observe some things which led me to think the bearings were ok.
1) The 'chirping' noise would only occur when the fan speed was set to 3 (3 bars).
2) It was intermittent, however, I managed to figure out how to make the chirp come and go 'on demand' with some trial and error.
With the fan set to 3 (3 bars showing), if I swerved the car right, the chirping would appear consistently. If I swerved let, no noise would appear.
I grasped the fan from under the glovebox while I was at the footwell. Applying pressure a certain way caused the noise to appear, others not so.
It seems that the clearance is marginal somewhere and causing the rotating fan rub.
I'll be taking the fan down this weekend and see what exactly is causing the noise.
On another note, when looking at konigstiger's pdf, I noticed a difference to my setup.
On Step 6, release shackle, I have a plastic insert in the track that prevents the shackle from being spun clockwise. The plastic insert has a zip tie which is holding a wiring loom in place.
This is a great write up. Thanks for posting. I've been having the same sound coming from the passenger side of my car as well. I described it exactly like a cricket!
The blower is working like new again. Chirping sound is gone !
A few things worth mentioning. I've noticed some members complaining that they can't twist the blower enough to remove it or have other issues taking it off the car. You must disconnect the wiring harnesses before twisting the motor. Having the wiring harness attached limits the amount you can twist the motor.
Once the motor was removed, I noticed the actual motor was suspended in the black outer plastic casing. I removed the 2 Torx screws (green arrows) at the bottom of the casing and popped the black shield (green arrow) where the wires come out of downward (with the blower facing upwards).
You'll notice the motor is suspended in rubber within the casing and that the shaft the squirrel cage spins on runs the entire length of the motor exiting the bottom of the motor. I lubed this area and other parts of the shaft and cleaned everything up.
Put it back together again and installed ....... quiet and working like new.
I have a W204, and have started to notice this chirping sound as well, more so when I am breaking. Thanks to -Mover-, I'll pull down the blower motor and see if I can fix the issue before buying a new motor.
My chirping noise is certainly more pronounced when braking. I'm also curious what part of motor gets lubed to make that irritating noise go away! Some pics would be VERY helpful.
My chirping noise is certainly more pronounced when braking. I'm also curious what part of motor gets lubed to make that irritating noise go away! Some pics would be VERY helpful.
More pronounced when braking - that's really odd that the blower motor could be affected by that.
More pronounced when braking - that's really odd that the blower motor could be affected by that.
I think it's a design flaw. What appears to happen is that there is some movement in center shaft, causing fan blades to touch outer case depending depending on direction and inertia of travel, which gets exacerbated by braking and uneven centrifugal force.
Here are some before/after pictures. You can see how dirty it was - it is supposed to be white! I used compressed air, a vacuum cleaner, an old toothbrush, a whole tub of cotton buds, and some 'Dettol' cleaning spray, just as a water-like solution really. I'd recommend doing this part outside or wearing a mask because the amount of 'dust' (that goes into your lungs with it you realising) is insane! It took quite a while to clean it up (hard to get into the edges) as the stuff is 'caked' on and not just loose powder. I made a real mess of my kitchen floor.
Oiling is unintuitive and difficult. You will feel like you're not really doing anything. But you need to put oil (I used 3 in 1 oil) on the top and bottom of the shaft, and let it drip down as you spin the motor. It will really feel like nothing is happening, but enough will be going in - and combined with getting all the crap and dust out of there, it should be quiet. Mine has been quiet for one month now.
So yeah, once all the dust is out, prop up the motor and leave it alone for a bit while the oil drips down the shaft. Turn it upside down and do the same. Spin it so that the oil can get into the bearings. Good luck!
Last edited by TeddyRuxpin; 02-12-2019 at 06:32 PM.
I have the exact same problem on my w212. The sound gets louder when accelerating or braking. The sound goes away when I manually set the fan speed to 1 sometimes 2. I'm glad this is easily fixable.. Thanks for the write up!
01-08-2017, 06:37 PM
