The fan that blows air through the interior is making a horendous (sp) noise. mainly when its cold, but it does it in turns also. it get so loud that most of the time i just wear a larger jacket so i dont get tinitus in my ears. After a little but of looking, its coming from the black box under the right side of the dash above where the passengers feet go. Any idea how hard this is to remove?

thank you

Jeff

 

It sounds like the blower motor bearings have dried out and that is the noise you can hear.

You need to remove the passenger side sound proofing panel under the glove box. Remove the glove box and lid. Look straight ahead at the bulkhead (firewall) and you will see the rear of the motor. Disconnect the electrics, remove the cable duct, remove two connectors from their brackets then 4 screws which hold the motor in place.

When mine started tomake a noise I sprayed a small amount of white grease into the bearing as a stop gap measure. That was nearly two years ago and it still remains quiet.

If you decide to replace the motor get one with the cage already fitted as they are beasts to remove.

 

How hard was it for you to get the glove box and lid out? ive had the lower panel below it removed before when i was trying to hunt down the noise and that was very straight forward all of 3 bolts i think. how long did it take you to get the the motor itself

Thank you very much

 

ok the glove box is out, and the door is off. i see the motor, and it appears its held in by 3 allen bolts, 2 of which are not easy to get to so far...

as far as the black metal thing which was under the sound dampening cover, um does that have anything to do with the airbag because it has warnings all over it. do i need to worry about being kicked in the face by a 200mph bag? and finally im assuming the motor has to come out of the car?

thank you very much

 

Yes! Mine doesn't have the passenger airbag so I completely forgot about it. Make sure you have your radio code, disconnect the battery and let it stand for 10 - 15 minutes before going any further.

The motor does have to come out of the car. There should be 4 torx bolts holding it in. One may be hiding behind the cable duct. When you have the bolts out the fan will pull back into the passenger compartment.

 

ok here is what i have now that its out of the car. rear shot of the fan is slightly blurry, but there is a small hole where a screw that i took out... i can come back to that in a sec but the second pic is of the blade side which is ontop of the motor iteself, visible through the blades. where did you spray the grease because the closest hole to where the bearings are is that little hole on the back of the fan....

thank you

 

If the noise comes back in a few days/weeks/months, you'll need a new unit. Mine was so bad that the noise came back after two days of spraying grease.

I bought a Behr blower with cage at FCP Groton, which was $139 when I bought it. The price seems to have gone up a bit. Behr, BTW, is a major German parts supplier and it may have been the OEM mfg.

http://www.fcpgroton.com/volvo850cooling.htm

I hope Bill's advice kills the noise for good.

Happy holidays,


JPN

 

well. its fixed...

i asked myself what would porsche do? i dropped a few drops of mobil 1 into the bearing, waited for it to seep in and reinstalled it. there is a slight whirling noise, but it was getting quieter the longer it ran.by the time i was done putting it back together no one wouldnotice even if i mentioned it.if itdoes come back i will be replacing itbut for now it seems just fine

thanks guys

 

Glad you quietened it. Sorry i did not reply but I have been away for a couple of days.

The grease/oil does go in the hole in the centre of the back.

 

If anyone needs one, I have a spare that works fine.