A tale of 3 heater blower motors....

[TWG1572]

A while back, I posted on here that my heater blower motor on my '08 Frontier was cutting out intermittently. The diagnosis was to replace it, which I did. Problem solved.

Well, for two months.

The first fan was a TYC. It was louder than stock, but I knew that from the reviews when I bought it. But a couple months in it developed an annoying squeak, which was intensifying in noise and frequency as time went on. I removed it, made sure everything was clean/aligned, re-installed it. No dice.

Replacement #2 was a VDO I picked up from Autozone. I figured I'd go with a different manufacturer. It was quiet when I tested it outside the vehicle, but once installed it had a very loud motor whine. To the point where my kids in the back seat noticed and asked what that noise was. I'm not sure what would cause that behavior, but it went back. Autozone wasn't very happy to take it back, said I installed it wrong. I don't think it was, it's pretty hard to mess up three mounting screws and an electrical plug. But I finally prevailed and got my $$ back.

At this point I had it and called Nissan for pricing on an OEM fan. $205. I winced, and retreated. I then found a junkyard fan pulled off a Frontier with 3K miles for $70. I figured what the heck, and installed it. Success....a quiet fan once again. It was a made in Mexico fan and the manufacturer started with a B. I don't remember the rest of the name though.

I was just surprised, but maybe shouldn't have been, by the variance in performance in three fans that are all billed as plug and play replacements and looked virtually identical. Lesson learned I guess.

 

[bioburner]

My Amazon TYC has actually gotten better that I paid $37 for.
I agree its hard to mess up installing with only three bolts and an e plug

 

[zzyzzx]

$70 for a junkyard blower motor???

 

[bioburner]

The HEARD him coming

 

[TWG1572]

Originally Posted By: bioburner
My Amazon TYC has actually gotten better that I paid $37 for.
I agree its hard to mess up installing with only three bolts and an e plug


TYC seems to have good reviews on Amazon. I suspect I may have just gotten a dud. It was also a Warehouse Deal, so who knows what abuse it may have endured. The loudness of the blower noise was fine, but the squeaking was driving me crazy.

 

[TWG1572]

Originally Posted By: zzyzzx
$70 for a junkyard blower motor???


I'm OK with it. It's basically new. The VDO was the same price, and whined. The TYC is loud, even if I didn't have a squeak. So I paid $30 more than the TYC, and have a quieter interior environment. I'll take that trade off anyday.

 

[Klutch9]

Originally Posted By: TWG1572
Originally Posted By: zzyzzx
$70 for a junkyard blower motor???


I'm OK with it. It's basically new. The VDO was the same price, and whined. The TYC is loud, even if I didn't have a squeak. So I paid $30 more than the TYC, and have a quieter interior environment. I'll take that trade off anyday.


Items like this are hit or miss. I've replaced the blower motor on the Fusion twice already - it's a known problem area. One the of the fans was a new TYC unit from RockAuto. It was a little noiser when new than a new OEM unit, but not bad. A couple of days later it was belching smoke and smelled like an electrical fire

thankfully TYC's return/refund policy is great. I simply called RA and explained what happened and they gave me a full refund; no return needed.

 

[Bluestream]

Where does one find reviews for a blower motor?

 

[bioburner]

Amazon has and asks for reviews on the products it sells

 

[HerrStig]

Originally Posted By: bioburner
My Amazon TYC has actually gotten better that I paid $37 for.
I agree its hard to mess up installing with only three bolts and an e plug
Got one in a Camry now, works fine and is quiet.

 

[edwardh1]

the basic problem is that the companies that make them don't evidently do any QC and the US companies that "select" who will make what they sell don't either.
heater blowers should not whine or be loud out of the box.
Bet the "buyer" for one of these selling companies has zip interest in product quality.
oh for the 60s days from sears of good better best

 

[Cressida]

What is the source of failure in the original motors?

Is it the bearings going bad or brushes wearing down, etc. I take it that it is not worth the time to tear them down to repair, even though the aftermarket replacements are suspect?

 

[bioburner]

I have seen all the above. Have taken out the blower in the 91 Ford several times and oiled it.
You going to pay someone to repair a $40 blower assembly. Most shop time is almost twice that an hour.
Now on pellet stoves that are three digit in prices one can get motors that have real bearings not bushings and are worth the effort. I have two that have german pabst blowers and they are $275 but one can replace the bearings for $12 every 5 years or so.

 

[meep]

same experience with obtrusive whine for HVAC blower in a gen 4 chrysler minivan. Great price on amazon. May have been TYC. Build quality on the outside looked good. I noted it had more "cogging" when spun by hand before installation, which might correlate with the noise. It was worst on low speeds, tolerable on high. But it was so bad on low speeds that speeds 1, 2 out of 5 were never used again. Too obtrusive. It worked fine besides that for the remaining 2 years we had the van.

the original failed with an internal short that blew the fuse and cooked the resistor while on a road trip, in the dead of winter. I suspect the commutator probably built up with brush material and shorted, as one could watch the mechanical voltmeter on the dash pulse on slow/struggling speeds.

-m

 

[waltb]

Recently purchased a VDO replacement fan for a 2011 Toyota Sienna van. It definitely had more of a whine than the original fan did however the whine seems to have improved as it has worn in (or I have gotten used to it). The whine is still there but barely noticeable. I will say when I removed the OEM fan that its bearings were shot. It probably had 1/8" or more side to side play in it. I was amazed that the old fan was not rattling even louder than it was before I replaced it.

wb

 

[01rangerxl]

I had some trouble getting a good aftermarket blower motor for a Ford Edge. When it first came in, I bought two different blower motors from Napa to compare them. One was branded "Maxzone," the other 4 Seasons. In the notes on the Napa site it said both were 4 Seasons products, but they had different pricing and part numbers. On one, I think actually the more expensive one, the wheel was wobbly and rough to turn right out of the box. Even if that had been the only one I could get that day, I would have sent it right back. The other one, I believe it was the Maxzone branded one, turned smoothly out of the box and worked fine initially after installation, but then failed a couple months later. I can't remember if the tech said it became noisy or if it just quit, but I had NAPA swap it out under warranty. So far it hasn't come back, but it has only been a couple months...might be about time for another one!

 

[Bluestream]

Originally Posted By: bioburner
Amazon has and asks for reviews on the products it sells


I wound place much value on those....18 year old Shade tree installs a blower motor and get on the site "motor works great"???