Wow!

I thought some of the vanes in the fan had broken off because it makes one hell of a vibration when I run the fan speed up. But after seeing those pics, I'm thinking maybe it's more like a washing machine that has an unbalanced load.

I'll see if I can pull it out tomorrow. Mosquitos and yellow flies are pretty bad around here lately and I'll be outside with my legs hanging out the door as bait for those suckers.... I'll probably be inventing some new curse words.

Thanks!

 

Well, I'm glad I didn't go ahead and order a new blower motor ahead of time like I had been thinking I should do. I just got done pulling the blower motor out and took a look at it. Was actually a pretty easy job to do. Just need a flat blade screwdriver to pry the retaining clips for the cover panel and a 15T driver for the three screws holding the motor in place. Being a contortionist would help, but if I can do it, most anyone else can as well. One of the screws is not visible at all and has to be worked with using the braille method. Just pull the electrical plug from the socket, remove a small section of rubber hose held on by a wrap around rubber band sort of thingie, unscrew the three screws and it drops out with a little bit of maneuvering. To put it back in, just do the reverse. I didn't even curse once during the entire time.

Anyway, what had apparently happened is that a mouse had eaten poison and crawled into the ductwork and died. When I had started up the car on the day the fan motor made noise, I noticed a real sour smell coming from the vents. I commented on it to Connie that I thought there might be a dead mouse somewhere. We've had problems with rodents for years, and this is the major incentive for getting a garage built. Anyway, when I had to slam on the brakes later that day, it must have knocked the mouse into the fan cage and of course unbalanced it to make that vibration noise.

As you will see from the pics, this probably was a GOOD thing. The dead mouse (and fan blades) is covered with maggots and the cyst like things they form into just prior to becoming new flies. Had the mouse still been in the ductwork or I had waited much longer to tackle pulling out that blower motor, in a few more days the inside of my car would have been FILLED with flies. What a surprise THAT would have been when I got into the car!

Anyway, might take a few days for that sour dead smell to go away, but at least the cause is gone and the blower motor works fine now.

Damned rodents........