Need help with blower motor

Canadian Moose · Post by **Canadian Moose** » 21 Nov 2016, 09:08

I think I may have an issue with my blower motor. I can hear the motor spinning as it gets pretty loud on full blast but it feels like there isn't that much air coming out. Especially the vent to the left of the steering wheel. I don't have another car to compare to but how well do the blower motors work in these cars? I replaced cabin air filter which was filthy but it didn't make much of a difference. One thing that I notice is when the blower motor is on I can occasionally hear a very faint buzzing sound coming from the glove box area. I suspect it's coming from the blower motor. Is it possible that the blades on the fan are broken or that the fan came off the shaft and the motor is just free wheeling?

How difficult are these to replace? Does the dash have to come out?

Post by **oragex** » 21 Nov 2016, 10:05

The vent flaps inside the climate control unit are prone to fail. Either a small plastic arm is broken, or the flap motor is burnt.

Here's a scheme, you can check by removing a few plastic trims what moves and what isn't moving

Canadian Moose · Post by **Canadian Moose** » 21 Nov 2016, 11:26

Ok thanks for the info. What's the best way to access that stuff? Pull the glove box?

Post by **oragex** » 21 Nov 2016, 13:23

right side yes, left side just pull the trims

Canadian Moose · Post by **Canadian Moose** » 15 Dec 2016, 07:07

Revisiting this thread. I am not sure if I am chasing a ghost or if there is an actual problem.

Last weekend I removed the glove box and had a look at all the flap mechanisms. I also replaced the blower motor. From what I could see everything is operating correctly. Defrost, vent and floor settings work as they should. However, the amount of air coming out and the temperature doesn't feel very hot. With temperature set to 80 degrees it's warm, but not hot. In my Crown Vic the air blowing out was so hot I couldn't hold my hand on the vents for very long. Here, I have to hold my hands near the vents just to keep warm.

I have no other car to compare to what I am experiencing is normal. How hot should the air get on maximum heat and how hard should it be blowing? When I have the climate control set to vent only it does blow decent. It's not enough to blow your face off but it's ok. Once I switch it to go to multiple directions it drops right down.

This morning it was about -7 degrees Celsius outside and my windshield had a bit of ice on it. I had heat set to max and defrost activated. I could not get the windshield hot enough to melt the ice. To me this doesn't seem normal.

One thing I did notice which annoys the hell out of me is a weird faint buzzing sound coming from behind the glove box area. I tracked it down to having something to do with air re-circulation. When re-circulation is off the noise disappears. In manual or automatic with fan set over 50% I hear this noise. It seems to only occur when I am driving though. If parked I can't replicate it so can't figure out where it's coming from.

Is there a flap that controls how much air is pushed through the system in general or is that all done via the speed of the blower motor? Basically I need to determine whether all of the air that the blower motor pushes actually goes through or if it gets bottle necked somewhere.

Do you have a diagram of the entire ventilation system?

Not sure what else to check.

Post by **abscate** » 15 Dec 2016, 08:10

Do you have the filter inside the car (P2 climate control) or the version under the cowl at the rear edge of the hood (P80 climate control)

The P80 version lets you look deep into the climate control system to see if beavers have set up shop in your car or maybe its full of leaves and stuff.

The P2 version doesn't but you should have seen stuff when you did the blower motor. My P80 and P2 blow a hurricane of heat on full fan speed, so something is wrong, indeed.

Canadian Moose · Post by **Canadian Moose** » 15 Dec 2016, 08:37

I have filter inside the car under the dash. When I replaced it there was a little bit of crap in there but nothing too ridiculous. I stuck my head under there while it was off and didn't see any obvious blockages. I tried running the car without a filter and got about the same amount of air coming out.

What's the easiest way to get inside the ventilation system to make sure nothing is clogged?

Post by **abscate** » 15 Dec 2016, 10:37

I think you have to borescope a P2.... or.......remove the dash,

Post by **oragex** » 15 Dec 2016, 11:17

There might be two separate issues. Even if a flap is not open correctly to let the air flow, your thermostat might be stuck open - very common at this age. The large hose between the thermostat and radiator should get freaking hot after 30 min driving, if it's only warm the stat is stuck

As for the flaps, as abscate mentions, it's a mess to check on P2 models. If you find a fix let me know, I also get about only 50% air flow. Even if everything moves, a motor might still be out of adjustment. I know Volvo can do a CCM calibration.

Canadian Moose · Post by **Canadian Moose** » 15 Dec 2016, 12:52

If the thermostat was stuck open, would the temperature gauge always read low? Mine is right in the middle of the gauge once warmed up. I will do some more checking this weekend.