Splurgus

Hi,

I think I did a bad one and might've broken the air blower motor or its fans. I recently bought a 02 Es300 and one thing that needed to be changed was the air cabin filter. It was extremely disgusting and I youtubed two videos and it seemed like an easy way to save money. I now have an AC that sounds like somethings chipped or some particle is now blowing inside the motor. Can I repair this myself?

For someone that's wanting to get into self-repair this is quite disheartening as I love this car so far but am on a budget. I was told many times just "follow the videos" and I do that, and with no warning of any kind on the deceptively simple filter, I change it, and now this happens.

Perhaps this is a lesson to strictly adhere to official car repair manuals, i'm not sure.

Whining aside, hopefully I can fix this?

Arsenii

Hello,

Can you post a video of the sound?

Many times when the filter is messed up, loose stuff on top of it may drop in the blower motor, causing all kinds of issues, that said, I don't think it will be hard to fix. Start by removing the filter and checking if something got stuck in the motor, which is right under the filter. If the sound is coming from that general area, you can even take the motor out and inspect it and surroundings while out of the car. Judging by how small the fins are in the motor, there is little chance something that is big enough to cause troubles can go past it.

Hope this helps and best of luck!

Splurgus

I'll be sure to post a video tomorrow mid-day.

Hopefully its just something stuck.

Thanks!

Splurgus

Well I took a video and I think I might've found the culprit


lol

LeX2K

As Eric O. would say, there's your problem lady. 😅

mathslope

Just so I understand, all that gunk is not supposed to be inside the motor? It almost looked like insulation around the walls of the unit.

and I saw a bit of shredded plastic on top of the nut inside the motor?

Arsenii

Well, there should be nothing in it, especially any insulation, since it will drastically decrease the performance of the blower motor.

The blower motor is basically a Centrifugal Fan, the way it works is it sucks the air through the filter from the top, and then pushes it to the sides. If those sides are clogged (like it is shown in the video), there will be no way for the air to leave the blower motor. Below is the picture of how it should look like for the reference.



All that said, I really wonder how all of it got trapped in there? A mouse nest..? I understand if there would have been leaves, branches, whatever, but felt.. In any case, it seems like this is one of those questions that will probably never be answered..

Hope this helps and best of luck!

Hayk

iTrader: (1)

Definitely looks like a rodent nest.

mathslope

thanks for the great explanation! changing out my engine oil/filter, air filter, and cabin air filter later next month.

I definitely have problems with acceleration on my 2005 lexus es330 208k miles, wondering if it's worth cleaning the throttle body. I already cleaned the MAF sensor, but the fuel filter is an interesting thought.

I've learned definitely not to underestimate how long things will take. "If anything can go wrong, it will do wrong" Changing my water pump/timing belt kit was an humbling experience. Still have to find time for the valve cover gasket/spark plugs...