Cleaning the blower fan write-up

MONTYMTB · Sep 5, 2014

My blower fan recently started sounding like a nest full of hungry baby birds, and it's about to drive me nuts. I took it out, cleaned it really well, and the squeaking went away for about 24 hours - back with a vengeance now. Anybody had good luck with a specific aftermarket brand?

JC Whitney has one for around $55 shipped, 1 year warranty, brand not specified.

TYC brand on ebay for $43 shipped, lifetime warranty.

1A Auto has one for $55 shipped, lifetime warranty, brand not specified.

Troutsrunner · Sep 7, 2014

brian4t said:
Since this got bumped I wanted to tell everyone there was a squirrel in mine, believed to be a flying one. Acorns and a nice little nest. Left the truck parked for two days turned on the heater and crap flew out of the vents and there was a horrible thumping coming from the blower motor. Needless to say I cleaned it all out. Point is watch out when you take the motor off, give it some distance and let it fall out to the floorboard and inspect from a far. In case your wondering the squirrel made a break for it before I got the motor out.

Also, the little bugger burred nuts throughout the truck. 8 acorns in the rear bumper. There are two holes just big enough to fit the acorns through and he stashed a lot of them. It tools me 6 months to locate them. I thought they were in the headliner, every time I drove around a corner they would roll to one side or the other. It drove me NUTS! no pun intended.

There was a squirrel in your blower fan? Seriously? Wow did he survive?

habanero · Sep 7, 2014

Troutsrunner said:
There was a squirrel in your blower fan? Seriously? Wow did he survive?

Zombie squirrel would stumble around and go for the brains, not make a break for it.

brian4t · Sep 30, 2014

Troutsrunner said:
There was a squirrel in your blower fan? Seriously? Wow did he survive?

I believe he darted out of the blower motor after I got in the truck and the door slammed. It was not in the motor when I turned on the blower, at least I hope not.

TheDurk · Sep 30, 2014

Troutsrunner said:
There was a squirrel in your blower fan? Seriously? Wow did he survive?

They're tough to kill. I had one fall down my chimney and land on top of the (almost finished) fire I had going. He jumped to the front of the hearth and just looked around going "WTF?"

It took a while but we got him back outside. It was a baby flying squirrel.

MONTYMTB · Sep 30, 2014

TheDurk said:
He jumped to the front of the hearth and just looked around going "WTF?"

LMAO! Had a great visual after reading this, almost blew my drink out of my nose.

pluton · Oct 1, 2014

MONTYMTB said:
My blower fan recently started sounding like a nest full of hungry baby birds, and it's about to drive me nuts. I took it out, cleaned it really well, and the squeaking went away for about 24 hours - back with a vengeance now. Anybody had good luck with a specific aftermarket brand?

Mine makes an intermittant, faint but annoying crackling noise, like a noisy plastic bag being crumpled.
Opened it up, found a couple of very long, very dry pine needles.
Still makes the noise.
Somehow I'd not be anxious to buy this part from ebay or J.C Whitney.
I'd sooner go with a salvage yard part, or, if I feel rich, new OEM.

MONTYMTB · Oct 1, 2014

pluton said:
Mine makes an intermittant, faint but annoying crackling noise, like a noisy plastic bag being crumpled.
Opened it up, found a couple of very long, very dry pine needles.
Still makes the noise.
Somehow I'd not be anxious to buy this part from ebay or J.C Whitney.
I'd sooner go with a salvage yard part, or, if I feel rich, new OEM.

I ended up ordering the TYC brand from Amazon - installed it last week, and so far all is well.

TazzmanSR5 · Jun 7, 2015

made the noise go away

thanks a lot man im so glad i got rid of the noise thank you so much for this thread

BrianSD_42 · Jun 15, 2015

Wow. I really need to do this.

seabun · Jun 16, 2015

Did this a few weeks ago. Super easy. Didn't have to remove glove box, just the kick panel and then really crane my neck to see the back screw (sure I looked crazy to neighbors). Fan was filthy. Each blade was black; coated in dirt. A little time with a soapy toothbrush and q-tips for the tight spots got it nearly spotless. Back to a transluscent white/clear like it's supposed to be. No more sound and smells a little better. A simple chore we all should do once a decade at least.

haydenwebb404 · Jul 16, 2015

Great thread helped a bunch

So my ac was making a horrible noise I just bought my 4runner a few weeks ago and finally got around to looking into it and look what I found!

And there is some sort of filter way up top

etc. · Jul 16, 2015

Is it possible to clean the evaporator?

T4R2014 · Jul 16, 2015

How the F do I get the connector off? This thing feels like it's glued on there. I've always thought Toyota connectors were annoying but I ended up getting them anyway. This one takes the cake though. I've been cleaning it in the vehicle.

98OzarksRunner · Jul 16, 2015

T4R2014 said:
How the F do I get the connector off? This thing feels like it's glued on there. I've always thought Toyota connectors were annoying but I ended up getting them anyway. This one takes the cake though. I've been cleaning it in the vehicle.

It is tight. I pushed on the tab and pried with a screwdriver and it popped off.

Ruff · Jul 16, 2015

I cleaned mine a few months ago. Could not get the fan (white piece) off the motor.
Tried using a small screwdriver and pliers but was afraid of breaking it so I gave up after a while.

The dirt I removed looked like dried mud.

I wish someone would post pictures or a video on how to remove the fan.

Ruff.

TheDurk · Jul 16, 2015

Ruff said:
I cleaned mine a few months ago. Could not get the fan (white piece) off the motor.
Tried using a small screwdriver and pliers but was afraid of breaking it so I gave up after a while.

The dirt I removed looked like dried mud.

I wish someone would post pictures or a video on how to remove the fan.

Ruff.

I've never seen anyone claim to have removed it successfully (without breaking), let alone a how-to video.

MedicBob · Jul 16, 2015

The squirrel cage rusts on there and that basically locks it in place until broken off. You could always try to free it up by soaking with PB Blaster and beating on it. Have a spare on handy if needed.

AZBub · Jul 16, 2015

This. Best option. Seems to use a Mabushi style brushed motor instead of the fancy OEM one but at lease its a OEM looking part and not that universal crap with the jumper wires hanging out.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000GOHUVW/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Supermoney · Jul 16, 2015

I cleaned mine last year and my AC still makes some weird noises when its on the front facing vents. If its on dash or feet it makes no noises.

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