P-daddy

Driving home from Hershey last week, my ventilation fan started squeaking. The weather was nice and warm, but the GF wanted windows up and a/c on. We drove for close to two hours with a damn bird chirping away. I traced the sound to the passenger fan. Please watch and give me some pointers on how to resolve this noise. I have instill some WD40 on the shaft but no luck. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks.

ble2011

If it's not the bearings, I would makes sure it's not touching anywhere around the edges. My best guess would be the back of the fan is touching the plastic housing.

TravisB

You don't happen to have cat delete pipes do you? I hear these sorts of things happen after installing those..


































[can't help myself sometimes]

P-daddy

I don't think the fan is touching the housing. Interesting thing is, it only squeaks when going counter clockwise, not clockwise. How do I know the bearings are bad or not?
Nope

Dr. Vader

A/C Delete or buy a Cat...

I had a similar problem, but mine just went away. Similar area, but I did notice that after a long road trip it disapeared. Rubbed itself a notch perhaps...

Check p-car there is a DIY for a fan silence modification I believe somewhere.

IXLR8

Its been over two years since I've been in that area to replace the cabin air filters, so I am going on memory.

You might need an inspection mirror to see sideways into the fan area.

Is there a balance weight held onto one of the fan blades by a small spring? if so, is the spring out of place and touching the casing?

Try pulling the fan towards the front by applying slight pressure. The slight amount of pressure might just provide clearance to what it is squeaking against. If the chirping bird stops, you know where the problem lies.

Slide a one-inch wide piece of paper/bristol board folded over in an L shape in behind the edge of the back of the fan so that it is between the fan and housing. See if the squeak stops.

As for the bearings, check play in both directions.

Knight

I'm having the same issues on my car, so annoying as it does sound like a bird is chirping alway inside the car, especially if the ventilation is turned up higher.

I was searching Rennlist for solutions with nothing come up too.

Will give Alex's suggestions a try this weekend.

NC TRACKRAT

Rather than WD-40, try something like Break-Free or Liquid Wrench Dry-Lube. If that doesn't show any improvement, I'm doubtful it's a bad bearing.

P-daddy

I didn't notice any play while gently tugging on the fan. Will give this another shot today. Thanks A
I reapplied with CLP Break Free before quitting last night. I will have to see if it did anything overnight. Thanks.

The Brewmeister

Try searching again on this subject. There was a whole procedure with pics on the 964 board that I read within the last few days. Can't remember the phrase I searched...

jo-hans

From the 964 forum. This appears to be the left front HVAC Blower Motor.

Before going through the hassle of removing the whole units I would simply apply several drops of gear oil to the inside part of the squirrel cage at the shaft as indicated on the first picture. Hopefully the noise stopped otherwise the blower will need to come out to oil the other side. Oil can be applied by simply dipping a wire or stick in the gear oil and dropped on the bushing.

jo-hans

I had seen it too. Was it THIS one?

f11

Just an added comment to this old thread - my driver side fan was squeaking after a trip for service a couple years ago, but only when the fan was turned on high speeds. Because of that I ignored it as the fan is almost always off anyway.

But the last service trip resulted in a recommendation to replace the cabin air filters (why didn't they ask me and then do it while in there? No idea, seems like a no brainer to me - maybe they didn't have the filters in stock?). I looked in the service manuals, and the job seemed pretty easy, so I bought a filter set and lifted the hood.

Man oh man, you people are NOT kidding about trying to do things up by the firewall with the hood attached... cripes! Anyway the cowl comes off easy, and the driver side fan housing comes off as advertised, along with the filter.

Yup, the filter is filthy, so out it goes. But while I'm in there, wtf is making that squeal noise on high speeds?? Turned on the fan and it ran noiselessly, without wobbles or any visible issues. I inspected the fan blades and the older filter... turns out the last time a service trip resulted in new filters being installed hadn't seated this filter squarely in the grooves designed to hold it in place, and the filter was impinging on the fan blades - just barely, so that I got a plastic on plastic squeal only when the speed was cranked up.

Then when putting the filter cover back on, I realized the problem the service tech had: HTF do you put that cover back on so its seats properly in its grooves?? NO WAY could I get the thing seated properly, even after a couple timid swings with a rubber mallet. I got it sort of in place and screwed down the thumbwheel nut. Its not great, but Hey: no more high-speed squeal !! And the filter is clean! Bonus!

Moving to the passenger side, I could see right away that the service tech had more problems here: the thumbwheel nut was missing and the filter cover was just sort of sitting on the housing, half on and half off. THIS explained the sound I heard after getting the car back from service after they replaced the filters: every time I took a corner, it sounded like a nut was sliding along a long tray behind the dash. Eventually, I guess it found a nook and stayed put, because the sliding sounds disappeared. But NOW I know what it was: the tech spun the thumbwheel nut off the top of the filter cover - and dropped it down into the bowels of the firewall crevass. I couldn't find it while in there, and I had an even worse time replacing that filter cover on the lower housing. But at least the filter is clean. When I went into the cabin and cranked on the blower to high speed - I got a mini hurricane from the vents, so i guess my fiddling improved the filter cover seals a bit.

Sorry - a long story just to say: the squealing in my case was just filter plastic rubbing against plastic fan blades due to poor installation of the filter.

But I have to ask again: HOW IN GAWD'S NAME DO YOU REPLACE THE FILTER COVERS?? It almost appears I have to take off the hood, tear out the firewall and manhandle the damn things from inside the boot area. Is this typical??

I'm done now.
Rod

ble2011

They are a bit tricky, but the grooves and tabs need to line up exactly. If you need to force it, it's not correct. Mine "fell" into place. Observation and patience is the key. Maybe this will help.
http://p-car.com/diy/pollen/pollen.htm

IXLR8

Same here and the first time I performed the job. I don't know what is so difficult about such a simple operation. Maybe some techs should get into another business. Imagine paying for that level of service.

As well as awareness and being clued in.