A/C fan sounds horrible - how hard to change

[Fredridge]

The fan for my A/C system sounds horrible. I need to replace it. 1992 Blazer

I thought I saw some threads on it before, but can't find them now.... I even searched for "Squirrel"

Anyway, how hard is it to get at the fan? Do I have to pull the whole dash?

Any tutorials our there?

Any way to upgrade to a better fan while I am doing it?

Anything else I should do while I am in there?

 

[someotherguy]

You don't have to pull the dash. It's actually a fairly easy job on 88-95, the only PITA part is you have to get the computer tray out of the way because the padded cover on the blower motor is held captive at the top by the tray. It has 3 screws through it, some are sunken. A little tight working area but not too bad. The other gotcha is it's a slightly tight fit getting the motor out/in; just take your time and note that the metal mounting plate on the fan motor has a flat area meant to help you position it during this job to reduce interference. Don't force the new one in or you'll disturb the plastic squirrel cage on the shaft and put it out of balance, which sucks bigtime and can be extremely difficult/impossible to correct.

While you're in there you should strongly consider cleaning all the junk out from the evaporator core area. Really, do this. Guarantee you there's a bunch of leaves, pine needles, small animals, etc. in there. Thread written up on it somewhere on the forum...but in a nutshell reach in through the housing while the fan is out, scoop out all the crap you can by hand, if you have a very flexible-nozzled vacuum use that, or a little compressed air. Then some foaming evap core cleaner sprayed in there and rinsed thoroughly with water.

Richard

 

[Fredridge]

Thanks... Hopefully I can get it done this weekend.

Any chance there are upgraded fans that blow more air?

Mine only has the 3 speed blower

 

[df2x4]

Not 100% sure as I've never had to do this with mine, but from what I've read if you clean the evap core as mentioned in the post before yours it'll improve your airflow immensely. Probably won't have to worry about changing fans after that.

 

[someotherguy]

No upgraded fans, but one going bad can deliver less airflow. More likely though you have less airflow because of the crud clogging up your evaporator core fins. All air in the system regardless of controls setting must pass through the evap, so if it's got debris and dirt all over it, that's not good.

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What's not covered with debris here is clogged with caked-on mud; this is from dust settling on the fins and turning into mud because the evap is wet with condensation when the A/C is running. Now consider that all of the air coming through your HVAC system regardless of being on A/C, heat, defrost, etc. mode - must pass through this.

You may have noticed 4 speed fans on a '94; there's no increase in speed, just more speed variations between off and full blast.

Richard