Blower motor replacement

[flyrv9]

The purpose of a diagnostic fee is to prevent the shop from telling you what the problem is and having you fix it your self. It's usually waved if the shop does the repair. But, an obviously noisy blower motor doesn't really need any diagnostics or troubleshooting - it's for connecting equipment to diagnose and troubleshoot a problem. So yea, you got screwed.

 

[jhguth]

I went with OEM replacement, its silent now but the airflow isnt improved.

I'm going to take apart the old assembly and see if I can replace the motor for more airflow.

 

[WCVanHorne]

For reference I have 2012 SR5 with original blower.

So just a data point and question:

-First of all data point. I had the Takata airbag fix at the dealer on the weekend. As an aside I wish they had put the back seat back up before ramming the passenger seat tilt back into it so hard the passenger seat weight sensor went off when I drove away; but that's another issue. Anyhow on the blower, I turned it up to high about 15 minutes later and there was a big thrumming and some vibration. I thought WTF did they do to it! It was fine the day before. I popped open the filter panel and found a leaf or two. The messing around down there must have shaken something loose/past the filter (I'd just replaced cabin air filter 2 weeks ago) and it is fall with lots of leaves around. Anyhow after cleaning and re vacuuming it out, noise gone for now.

-This leads me to my question. I found in getting the vacuum wand in there and trying to twirl the blower fan wheel around that it seemed pretty "stiff". Basically has anyone noted how much friction there is on their's? I can maybe get half a rotation by flicking it, if that. I should test next time I have a minute and run it on low with the filter panel open and see how long it takes to spin down. Might be worth dropping it and trying to lubricate, but usually if on goes though that effort on a fan it's just time to put in a new one. This would be disappointing as my past vehicles (including Honda and GMs) have had the fan last a life time (eg. 18 years).

 

[SirDancelot]

I'll chime in for statistics. on my 2018 4runner TRD ORP the HVAC fan blower begun chirping at medium speed at around 8k miles. Finally it got so bad I had it replaced at 18k.

Initially I thought it was due to cold weather, but at 21k miles new fan blower begun to chirp again. This was over the summer time.

Seeing the diagrams posted was helpful. I may crawl under the dash this weekend and have a look. From my experience with PC cooling fans, it sounds just like a motor bearing going bad. Assuming the bearings are not completely sealed I'll see if perhaps adding a bit of oil will have any effect on the noise. If not, I'll take it back to the dealer to get it swapped under the warranty...

 

[jonz]

Was wondering if any of you have had your blower motor replaced? Couldn't find many 5th gen. threads relating to a problem with them.

2014 TE with 47xxx miles, started to notice a "ticking" relating to the speed of the blower a few months ago. Happens on all settings and vent directions.

"Ticking" has gotten worse recently and fan speed seems to vary on its own, today the fan completely died.

Cabin filter is replaced regularly but checked for obstructions anyway and all looks good. Figuring there wasn't much to be done I checked the general area of the blower motor, but still no movement. Blower finally came back on as I accelerated onto the freeway but now comes on only at random.

Had a GX whose blower motor made the same ticking sound but it held strong in the 75xxx miles I owned it. Anyone replaced, or had one replaced on a 5th gen.? Doesn't look terribly hard to get to but being an apartment dweller I'm gonna take it in (where it will of course work perfectly for the dealer).

Know I'm not under warranty so if anyone else has had theirs replaced I'd love to know what I can expect.

Thanks in advance!
- Jeff

I had an issue with mine ticking and blower speed surging occasionally. Dealer replaced as a warranty repair. I wa right as two years (2017) and 32k miles.

 

[JMZ400]

Mines been clicking like crazy. Great thread!

Sent from my SM-A205U using Tapatalk

 

[jhguth]

i'm still curious if anyone used a non-oem replacement and if it made a difference for airflow

 

[JMZ400]

FWIW

I did find a few leaves in my fan and had a aha-moment thinking I found the obvious source of the noise... but nope.

Removed fan from mounting location and ran it while holding it in my hand. Still makes the ticking noise. Just a noisy fan.

Someone mentioned earlier about staying away from aftermarket fans and only replacing with an OEM Toyota fan. Honestly I can't see how that makes much since given the OEM track record demonstrated here.

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[bevel_drive]

FWIW, I had a 2007 FJ Cruiser before my 2014 4Runner. The FJ had the same problem. I wound up replacing the FJ blower motor ~ 100k mile mark and expect to do the same on my 4Runner.