jenkins214

Big thanks to Kris Hansen's writeup on how to repair that squealing blower fan. The wifes avant was squealing and chirping at almost all levels. I finally decided, with the help of Kris's article, to jump into it this morning. This is an EASY fix! No one should have to put up with fan noise again. I had the blower motor out, fan off, cleaned, oiled and put back together in less the 2 hours. I was not moving very quick as it was my first time there. FYI, I did try to oil only the motor end first and it still squeaked. After removing the fan and oiling that end it is now quieter than ever. I couldn't believe how much dust/dirt came out of the motor. This should be a routine cleaning for anyone.

Thanks Kris.


Link to writeup:<ul><li><a href="https://www.audiworld.com/tech/elec132.shtml">https://www.audiworld.com/tech/elec132.shtml</a</li></ul>

BoneDaddy

were you fan blades easy to get off? I fought with mine for a little while but it didn't want to come off easily so I oiled where I could, etc and still have a little squeaking at some speeds. also, was the fan plastic or metal in your case?

Press

kris is pretty smart

jenkins214

It actualy came off pretty easy. It is a plastic fan. First I removed the retaining clip. If you then look at the end you will see the fan itself has a plastic 'clip' around the motor shaft. While holding the fan I pryed the clip gently with a screw driver, just enough to move the fan by hand out of the groove on the shaft. I should have taken a picture it would clearer. Once the fan is clear of that groove I set it in a vice. The vice was open and the fan sat ontop of the vice with the motor under or in the vice (not tightened at all). This provided me with a platform to tap the shaft with a hammer and punch. Two slight taps and the shaft went straight through, leaving the fan. Pretty easy. That is what finished off the squeeking for me.

BoneDaddy

cool, I'm re-attacking this tomorrow, I was worried about breaking that little clip tab thingy.

GeoW97

I'd be surprised if oil is the proper lubricant for this operation; I did a similar thing on my old Acura and used white grease. Using oil, or any lubricant that's too thin for the spec, will just dilute what's there and the squealing will be worse than ever; I'd figure out what the proper lubricant is if I were to do this...

jenkins214

I would agree. I should of said that I did choose not to use just any oil. It was a very hight quilty (read expensive) specialty oil. It may not last long I will have to wait and see. Not to hard to get at it again though. Obviously whatever the factory choose to use doesn't do the trick.

BoneDaddy

playing it by ear literally, I've been using silicon and it has never gotten worse that it initially was, did it again today, this time I had the courage to take a rubber mallet to it to get the fan off and lube up the other bearing, we'll see how long it lasts.

GeoW97

The issue is really one of whether or not the lubricant you pick has enough viscosity to sit in the bearings or bushing even when it's hot, or just follow gravity downward once it's as thin as water. Again, for all I know, oil is the right thing, but I remember what a tremendous pain in the *** it was to get my Acura fan down and rebuild it, and wouldn't want to have to do it again with a different lubricant...

baskinblack4.2L

Thanks for the post and the link