Hi Guys,

My wife's 2008 Volvo XC90 AC is making a loud noise when the fan is on at full blast, and I'm not sure what could cause it...here's the symptoms and I got a video as well:

*Loudness is proportional to fan speed - faster the fan setting the louder the noise
*It causes a slight vibration which you can feel through the steering wheel
*AC still works fine, it's just loud
*It sounds like a compressor running

Any idea what would cause this noise or where I should start looking? Hoping it's something simple like maybe a dirty air filter needs to be cleaned out rather than the AC compressor about to take a dump...

Video Link:

 

It's a squirrel cage fan and there is something in it making it out of balance. Unfortunately to remove the fan on a xc90 requires dash and ventilation box removal - all other volvos that use that fan motor do not (s60.v-xc70) Those can be replaced in less than an hour.

You may be able to remove the cowl (between the windshield and firewall, where the wipers arms stick out of) and reach down into the fan to remove the new object. I have found blobs of insulating foam (from the car) stuck in fan motors before.