fan making a godawful racket

[neuroboy]

something has gotten in the way of the fan for the heater/a-c so that whenever I turn the fan up it makes this horrible rattling noise. It sounds like something inside the dash has fallen into the blades of the fan. i think a recent blown fuse is the result of running the fan on high while it was being impeded by whatever's going on in there.

i haven't gone into the interior of the dash before, but it looks like it needs a little exploratory surgery. how complex a task is this? what am I looking at in terms of a time commitment?

cheers.

[jlevie]

Either something has gotten into the fan housing or more likely there is a failure of the fan impeller(s). You access the fan from the engine bay. The fan is behind the oblong cover on the firewall.

[kts]

You access the fan from the engine bay. The fan is behind the oblong cover on the firewall.

^^ this.

it's a very easy task to remove.

most likely the blower motor fans have split apart somewhere and when it's on and turning it is separating and hitting the blower motor housing.

the small split in mine:


what the rubbing (that sounded exactly like what you describe) did to the blower housing:



i replaced the blower motor with one from a junk yard, works great now.

[ParsedOut]

Mine is making a tick sound in 1st and 2nd speeds. It's speed dependant too, so good chance I have the same issue...

[neuroboy]

thanks for the pics, kts- did you have a quieter racket then maybe hit a bump and have it get way louder? mine goes back and forth between kinda loud and goddamn cacophony.

it's good to know that i can get at the fan via the engine bay rather than having to disassemble the dash.

[Morfhieus]

these motors fail all the time. they click, they squeak, they blow fuses intermittently and finally they flat seize up! I will let you in on a little secret....Z3 blowers are a direct replacement for e30. they are identical. I just installed one in my 85 318i. fits perfect just like the original only its like a million years newer and way cheaper than the worn out junk I have seen on eBay. I saved at least $50 by getting the motor from a 97 Z3. I wanted new but they were listing for $280 e30 specific.