My blower motor was getting squeaky on cold days sometimes, so I did what I've done on past cars and ordered up a Four Seasons replacement. These used to be made in Canada and were high quality. What I got instead was a motor made in Mexico that whirred annoyingly at every speed. I went through two of them from RockAuto before I gave up and just got a refund. The only good thing about the aftermarket blower motors is that while the second one was in the car, I had an opportunity to try taking apart the factory one without having to worry about not having heat if I broke it. Scariest thing first: removing the hamster wheel fan. There's a spring clamp, easily removed with pliers, not pictured because I already removed it. There's also a while plastic tab that locks into a groove in the motor shaft. I carefully bent this outward with a small screwdriver until it was no longer locked. This seems like it would be easily to break; I think I definitely fatigued the plastic when I bent mine back. I'm sure a dot of glue would work just fine in its place, so I wouldn't sweat it too much if you end up damaging it. I had these "professional contractor shims" left over from a remodeling project. They're just extra long shims. I started with 2, then 3, then 4, and eventually 5 per side. I just tapped them in evenly, alternating sides, and the fan came off without too much drama. Wearing gloves would help to prevent splinters. Heating the plastic hub of the fan with a heat gun before removal would probably make it come off even easier. Once the fan is off, the motor is covered by this plastic shroud. Two screws and it's out of the way: Then you can pry off this metal cap: These are the parts under the cap, in the order I removed them, from left to right. An E-clip, a steel washer, a thin bendy (plastic?) washer, a rubber washer, and another thin bendy washer: Oh yeah, this thing pops off, too. Just pull up (toward the back of the motor) on the hose port and it will come out: I could not get the motor out of the housing. You can see above that I loosened the screws; I tried tapping the motor out of the housing by the screws but it wouldn't budge. I'm not sure what else is holding it in and wasn't willing to risk breaking the housing to find out. Maybe heating the housing would loosen it up? I did not try. The next thing I did was blow the thing out with compressed air. So much black, nasty, probably cancer-causing dust. Most of it probably used to be the motor brushes. I was brave and popped out one of the brushes and it seemed like there was still enough left that I didn't have to worry about it, so I put it back in. I also rinsed the hamster wheel under hot water, everything looks clean as new now. For lubrication, I added a few drops of 75W-90 gear oil to the top bushing and worked it in by spinning the motor by hand. No scientific reason for this, I just had some sitting around and it seemed like it should be about the right viscosity and hopefully have some staying power. For the bottom bushing, I was debating between LPS #2 and white lithium spray grease, and went with the LPS #2. This is a very thin penetrating lubricant that smells like cherries. It's kind of like WD-40, if WD-40 didn't suck. I'm not sure how long it will last, but since now I know that all I need to do is pop off the hose port cover to get at the bottom bushing, I can try something else there in the future if it acts up again. I heated the center hub of the hamster wheel with a heat gun slowly and evenly before reinstalling it, and it went back together easily by hand. Here's the cleaned and reassembled unit: It's back in the car and working great again. Not sure if it will get cold enough this winter to really stress test it, but I'm happier with it than an aftermarket blower motor at this point.
Awesome write up! thanks for doing that! I just pulled my Apremium one off and stuck some silicone lubricant down the outlet tube and lubed up the base that way, we'll see if it works and/or if it becomes gross smelling in the heat.
I award points for not doing this on the kitchen counter or dining room table. My guess is the OP has a female significant other in his life.
IYKYK. It's true. Also, before getting married, I got insulation, drywall, and heat installed in the garage, and that was one of the best decisions ever.
I'm not thrilled with my choice of LPS #2. It's starting to fade, but definitely better to use something with low odor here. Dads who manage to keep hobbies are doing it on hard mode.
Yeah drove over to St. Paul last night and it was much much quieter! Had a pretty intense aroma at first but it was kind of like new car/mechanical smell. Not terribly off putting. On the drive back didn’t even notice it.
I opted to not care about breaking things and the motor actually slid out with equally as much grief as the fan to come off. Using a body trim panel tool worked wonders. the cute metal ones.
No glue or anything. I was kind of expecting it to be heat fit and melted in or to have some lip that it needed to over come that once it's pushed in it doesn't come out. Was fully willing to take the Dremel to it to get it out lol. Thoughts here. I reached out to A-premium and to another company that produces them on Amazon, to see if they could produce a brushless upgraded motor for these. I understand it's different and requires a controller, but I feel like they could figure some of that out. Either that or some website was recommending a varnish? for the electrical coils? I was confused. Or just a clean up and lube. I'm going to add some sound deadening to my fiberglass assembly later to see if it drops the dB. Will report back. Adding pictures of that here so that they're all in one place.
I opted to put the stock one back in after ripping it apart. I aggressively lubed the motor and carbon pads pushing on it, as that's where DC motors get that noise from. Added some sound deadening material to the cover I made. Started at 50dB average with the A-premium motor, roughly same with stock. Dropped to 37dB with the lubed and covered factory motor! will likely have to service more frequently with collection of dust from the grease, but it's a price I'm happy to pay, for some piece and quiet
