2001 SL1 noisy blower fan
 

The blower blowing the AC rattles like crazy while driving, but quiets down a lot when braking.

"Huh?" Yeah… I know.

I'm really dragging my feet on digging into this repair… I don't really know why. Maybe the awkward contortions to get to it, not knowing what I'll find, dreading three dozen other things to FINALLY reach the fixing point, then redoing those three dozen things again. What a crybaby.

Has anyone else ever dug into the blower fan, motor, and shroud inside the SL1? Please help me gain some confidence here to dive in and start the process. Thanks.

tt isn't that hard to remove the blower motor. It can be readily seen under the dash on the passenger side with the three screws and connector obvious. The motor and blower wheel come out as a unit.

I once had to remove the blower fan from my '95 SC2 after it had sat under a tree for two and a half years. When I turned it on, it made all kinds of rustling noise, and there was something obviously stuck in the squirrel cage.

It really is not that difficult to remove and diagnose.

Yours may simply be loose with regard to its attachment to the rest of the vehicle. It may be shifting position when you hit the brakes and it is moved forward. It may also have something stuck in it that shifts back and forth.

Another possibility, given its age, is that the motor bearing is simply worn out and the play in that bearing is allowing the squirrel cage to shift around more than it should, possibly rubbing against something else like the shroud.

Word of caution. The blower motor resistor pack installs directly into the air path of one of the ducts, as it uses air from the system to dissipate heat from the resistor pack . When you take the fan out and are playing with it so to speak, there is no air flow across the resistor pack. Running the fan for long amounts of time on the lower settings runs the risk of burning up the resistor pack.

The highest setting for the blower motor actually runs off of a 12 volt signal that comes directly from the battery so to speak and does not go through the resistor pack. As long as you use that highest setting, you should not have an issue with the resistor pack. You may not be able to do all of your diagnostics just on the high setting. Just wanted to mention it to avoid avoidable damage.

This is SO helpful! Thanks.

Thanks, Clyde—helpful as always. I'm a transplant from another year of the day