Blower moter screeming?

[632 Regal]

The old detroit metal vehicles allowed you to spray a lubricant of choice through a vent hose that would eventually find it's way into the fan motor bushings... is there a trick to these besides dynamite to get in there? I do not want to disassemble everything just to lube the ****ers, has to be a trick.

[ahlem]

I just changed my blower motor and it didn't take too long. If you wanted to open the covers to get at the bearings on the motor you probably have less than an hour to do the whole job. a 1/4" drive ratchet was most helpful to get the screws holding the outer cover off. If you like, I can try lubing the still functional but screeching old motor and see if it makes a difference. I scored a used motor at LKQ for about $29 so it was worth changing.

[Ross]

If it's screaming the bushing are done. It's not worth the effort of getting to it to change it for an unknown used or lube it. Shogun's site has posted the write up I did years ago for using an MB motor that is half the price. Fixed right <$100 or do it again?

[shogun]

yes, here is the write up by master Ross Lagergreen
http://twrite.org/shogunnew/fixes/climate.html

[632 Regal]

Wow a lot of them jar the memory, thanks for the bunch Shogun. So it looks like I can get to the blowers from under the hood, I'm sure the V8 will have it's challanges but at least this points me in the right direction. The motors aren't really screaming but on low you can hear a chatter and I would rather lube now than later when it gets really bad. Any particular long lasting lube I should use?

[ScottyWM]

Very timely info... mine just started squeaking intermittently. Not something I want to tackle anytime soon though.

[shogun]

my one also chatters at the moment till it gets warm. Have already some spare ones here, but maybe I try a test with greasing the bearing, Gale also has some info about brushes
http://www.nmia.com/~dgnrg/page_15.htm

[ahlem]

Well, I lubed my old screaming blower with lithium grease and it quieted down. I could feel play in the bearing so I don't think it would be a permanent fix. If you had lots of time to open up the housing each time it squeeked, you might as well do it right and change the blower the first time. If you put in some sort of tube/section of brakeline, you could probably set it up to squirt some lube in the tubes as needed. Can't see much time-effort-money savings in the long term.

[ScottyWM]

Mine has just developed a new thing. The intermittant squeak is still there maybe 20% of the time, but now the blower just sometimes stops alltogether. But if I turn the speed to 4, it'll kick it back on, sometimes with a little "thump" sound, and then it'll run on any speed again. I'm assuming the bearing(s) is just freezing up and the extra speed (voltage) is kicking it loose. Does this sound about right?

I guess it's about time to dig in to it...

[MasterMorality]

Getting to the blower motor isn't that bad, you basically drain a little coolant, remove the coolant tank on the firewall, and unbolt the cover plate and it's there. You could probably be in an out in a bit over an hour.

[632 Regal]

I need to get me some sticky notes, I keep forgetting to do things until I fire the beast up! With the sticky notes I have to look at them until I do the job so they disappear.

[leicesterboy15]

Mine has just developed a new thing. The intermittant squeak is still there maybe 20% of the time, but now the blower just sometimes stops alltogether. But if I turn the speed to 4, it'll kick it back on, sometimes with a little "thump" sound, and then it'll run on any speed again. I'm assuming the bearing(s) is just freezing up and the extra speed (voltage) is kicking it loose. Does this sound about right?

I guess it's about time to dig in to it...

Mine does this, if I put the blower on full it works, if I lower it sometimes it will work for a short period and sometimes it just stops blowing (I can sometimes hear a grinding noise before it stops). When its on full and the blower is working I can hear a lot of air movement going on (no squeaking) from behind the dash but it doesn't seem to translate into air coming out of the vents so the cabin takes a very long time to warm up. I thought it was the blower but I'm wondering now if it is the sword as on Gale's website. Anyone had any similar symptoms?

[shogun]

Mine has just developed a new thing. The intermittant squeak is still there maybe 20% of the time, but now the blower just sometimes stops alltogether. But if I turn the speed to 4, it'll kick it back on, sometimes with a little "thump" sound, and then it'll run on any speed again. I'm assuming the bearing(s) is just freezing up and the extra speed (voltage) is kicking it loose. Does this sound about right? I guess it's about time to dig in to it...

either the motor, or the sword respect. the resistor Fan Blower and Sword : BMW E34 Website (http://www.bmwe34.net/Wiki/tiki-index.php?page=Fan+Blower+and+Sword)

[Tiger]

93 should be resistor... otherwise it is sword... typical problem is no fan until you hit 4.

[ScottyWM]

Yeah, it has the resistor. I replaced that already like.... 8-9 years ago. It will also sometimes vary the blower speed slightly while running (no matter what speed it's on). I would think it unlikey that the resistor would go out right at the same time the blower motor started squeaking. I'm beginning to wonder if this could just be the brushes wearing completely out and "ticking" and sometimes hanging up on the rotor. It's been so damn cold here I can't work out in the garage to get it apart.

[Tiger]

At this point... we do have to consider the blower motor wearing out... not just the brushes but also the bearing... hence the squeak. If you got the time and money... put a new one in. Otherwise, just trigger 4 when you need more air... lol.

[shogun]

also it is time for a new auxilary fan after so many years. I still have the first one in from 1988, but now it starts ticking too, so I have to assume that one of the magnets is lose and more will come lose and in the end it will stick and amp goes up and hopefully the fuse will blow. On my buddies Alpina B12 5.0 E32 last year same happened and the fuse melted (the plastic, but not the metal) and the complete cable between fuse box and fan was mainly bare wire. So before it is getting warm again, I will repair it.
Just yesterday I ordered from the Bay in USA a new one for $85.00 plus $69.90 shipping to Japan, still cheap compared to prices here, almost double and not to speak of the dealer prices.
Of course a no name product, but I hope it will work fine.
Seller is evolutionautopartsusa, just search for BMW E32 7 SERIES 89 - 94 RADIATOR FAN & SHROUD NEW. That was the cheapest I could find, from the pics on the offers it looks like they are all same brand (at least the cheaper ones).
The fans are same for several models, E32, E34, E36 and maybe some more.
I will repair the old one and reglue the magnets inside the motor, but better to have a back-up if suddenly the old one breaks completely.

[nk530]

Mine's been having the same trouble. I tore one out of an old 525 at the local u-pull and found what I think is intermittent running/not running problem: the shaft had worn through the bushing on one side of the motor and made a slot. that slot allows the armature to essentially rest on the windings when the motor is shut off. When you try to start it again, it needs a little boost to get moving. In my case, I can get on the highway and the little bit of air moving through the vents is enough to jump-start the fan. This makes for some unnecessary trips onto the highway. I think I'll fix it soon.

[ScottyWM]

My update. I got a different blower motor at the local junkyard. It was supposed to be a grade A part, but looked pretty well shot to me. I put it on my power supply, and couldn't even get it to run at a reasonable speed - it turned, but drew a lot of current and never got up to speed even after lubing it up. I'll be returning it. Anyway, I dug into my car to get at the motor this morning. It was a lot more difficult than the Bentley makes it sound. I had to improvise some tooling to get at some of the cover screws. There was not much free movement with the wire harnessess even after cutting the wire ties. I was very cautious not to yank on them too much. But, I prevailed and didn't even break anything! Once I got in to see my motor, I could see that it was not as worn as the one I got from the junkyard. I also didn't see any way that I would be able to finagle it out of the hole... I know everyone says you can do it, but I just couldn't see how. I even experimented trying to see if I could get the junk one into the hole, but didn't even get close (see picture). So, I was somewhat bummed that I couldn't replace the motor, but pleased that I got as far as I did without causing more problems. I thought the best plan of action was to try lubing the bearings. So I sprayed the hell out of the area around the bearings with white lithium and tried to squeeze it in as best as I could. So far, that is working!! The squeaking is gone, and it hasn't bound up and stopped turning even at low speed. It's only been one day, but I am hopeful it will last a good while. And as an added plus, it now has a wonderful clean smell of white lithium grease when I turn on the fan!! (Actually, I'm not kidding, it smells pretty good!) I'll update the thread if it starts swueaking again or if it lasts a long time.
http://home.bellsouth.net/coDataImages/attportal/Groups/371/371092/folders/283649/24646592011-01-1612-58-50789.jpg