CF01

The blower motor on my 2003 ES300 makes some noise that I'm guessing might be a bad bearing? I suppose it might just be something caught in it though? Thought I would see if someone might know what it is before I dig the whole thing out.

I made a recording. Placed the recorder right next to the blower housing to get a more amplified sound. The recording goes through each of the fan speed levels.

mmatheny

Sounds like something in the blower - leaf or twig. I think it isn't too hard to drop the blower motor housing to check.

CF01

It's been there since I got the car 5 months ago and the sound hasn't changed at all.

I'll do a little more research on how to dig it out. I got the glove box out, kick plate off and almost got the area surrounding the glove box off. Need to figure out how to get the plastic along the door off so I can get to a bolt. I'm pretty sure it just pulls up, but I don't want to break anything.

mmatheny

I'll tell you this - it isn't brushes or bearings, I'm almost positive. Maybe a wiring harness got into the housing or something.

PFB

Remove your cabin filter and poke around inside the housing.

Maybe you'll see something.

CF01

I slid my phone into the cabin air filter slot and snapped some photos. I couldn't see anything caught in the blades. I'll just have to dig the motor out. Hopefully there is just something caught in an area that wasnt visible from above.

What is the best way to test the motor after getting it out of the car?

mmatheny

I'd spin it with my finger first.