For the past week or so, my wife was complaining about a loud noise when the heater was going. I took a look at it and noticed that it only occurred when the fan was not on full blast...if it gave it full power, it quit, but once brought back to lower power, it would eventually come back on its own or when I hit a bump. Sounded like some sort of bearing issue with the blower motor.

So while I was visiting the parents house, we tore into it, just to look at what might be wrong. Short story shorter, the blower motor comes out by removing lower glove box door, then removing the cover below that, then removing three screws and power plug.

First inspection was that the shaft was fine, but we took the fan off the motor and was shocked at the amount of a very fine powdered dust. We blew it all off with an air hose and decided to get closer to the bearing. The motor is fitted in a plastic adapter. There is a screw on the bottom of the motor assembly that basically holds the motor in the plastic housing. Remove the motor from the housing with a flathead screwdriver or putty knife. Once the motor out we started cleaning the pieces off the shaft. First off was an e-clip/c-clip that promptly flew halfway across the room! Thanks to Mom & my wife for finding it again! Below the clip was a retainer washer, a rubber washer, then a few thin hard plastic washers, finally a triangular thin hard plastic washer. There were supposed to be three hard think plastic washers, but there must have been some spinning and one disintegrated...only evidence of one was a hair thin ring around the shaft.

Once down to the bearing, we could see that the bottom bearing was okay, but top (near the fan) was very slightly worn with just a little bit of play. We cleaned it up as best we could, then oiled it as best we could. First just a bit of air tool oil, then some white lithium grease. We re-assembled the washers in order and coated them in wheel bearing grease with the idea that as the shaft temps increase oil will seep into the bearing as time goes on. Everything went back together without much issue. I hope I bought myself a few years...we'll see.

Our return trip was 6hrs and no fan vibrations or troubles. New fan from dealer was $95...used ebay fan is 65. With times as tight as they are for some, hopefully this will help. This is also the same fan that is on the lancer.

 

Holy crap, my 2010 Outlander has a freakishly similar issue!
I stopped by the dealer today and I had little luck reproducing the noise (except very softly, but not enough for them to warrant tearing it open).

Did her issue occur primarily with the brake depressed?

 

the blower fan has nothing to do with the brake. basically it is an electric motor with a fan on top. speed is controlled via a resistor pack that is controlled by our middle ****.

Our issue was due to lack of lubrication over the years. The top bearing is slightly worn, but I think with grease...and the knowledge how to re-grease...I should be good for a while.

 

Right, I know the brake isn't related to the HVAC. I was curious if it was aggravated by deceleration, but apparently not.

I guess a problem caused by a part that's a little rusty/stuck probably doesn't get better/worse with different car motions, though, haha.

Well, it's good to hear you got your problem fixed; some fine digging there,

~Ibrahim~

 

it is affected when hitting a hard bump...enough to jar it into a vibration. I think deceleration is not abrupt enough.

 

well that didn't last long. during an extended trip over the holidays, it started vibrating again. I'll be buying a new motor this weekend.