Blower Motor squealing, and might need replacing.

[twiki]

Hi Guys,

Me again....sigh.... and it seems that I've had nothing but a string of problems with this car.
Well, I don't think that's really the case.
Yes, I've had problems with rusted bolts, a remote starter with no fob, and a question on odd keys. It rattles like a lot of other Echo's, but otherwise handles as well as I can expect.


Anyway, the blower motor will, occasionally, squeal when the fan is switched on. Most of the time, it quietens down in a minute or so. This was flagged by the auto broker when I bought the car, and he did suggest having it replaced while the car was in his shop, which I declined.


The above was taken from the 2002 Echo manual.

My question is: What's the difference between the STANDARD heater, and the TWO WAY(S) flow heater?
I've looked online for a replacement blower motor, and some seem to specify a 'cold weather' version.
Is there any truth in this?

Is the blower motor the whole assembly (as pictured), or does the picture show the whole blower (motor) assembly, complete with the rotary fan blades?

I figure that the squealing indicates it's just the blower motor bearings(?) about to fail.
I should be able to remove the whole assembly, and replace just the motor.


Thanks.

[Gene_WI]

Recently had a similar problem.

If you have AC you have a two way heater motor.
There are may hidden bolts that hold the manifold, that are not shown in the manual.

!!! Check your blower motor resistor first, its probably whats broken. This is common. The resistor is very easy to replace.

[littleslim1474]

If it were a resistor problem you wouldn't have all the speeds for the blower. Since you said it was just when it turns on sound like the winding for the motor are taking a dump when it first come on due to the voltage spike. And the blower come as an assembly. Its pretty east to change normally just 3 screws and a connector.

[twiki]

Thanks littleslim1474 for the tip.
Yes, I was about to point out to Gene_WI that it can't be the fuse, as it still works on all speeds when I want it to, albeit with a whole lot of squealing and whining!

Of late, it still squeals when it starts and then quietens, but also starts making a fuss again when I make a sharp turn, or hit a bump. Could this indicate the bearings (windings?) in the motor?

When you say the 'blower comes as an assembly', would that be the circular fan (blades) and the motor itself? I'm fairly handy around cars, and will definitely do the replacement myself.
Do you know of website that sells the whole part I need? I have A/C, so I guess mine is the 'two-way flow heater'.

And is this what you were describing as being held by 3 screws?



Thanks!

[littleslim1474]

Originally Posted by twiki

Thanks littleslim1474 for the tip.
Yes, I was about to point out to Gene_WI that it can't be the fuse, as it still works on all speeds when I want it to, albeit with a whole lot of squealing and whining!

Of late, it still squeals when it starts and then quietens, but also starts making a fuss again when I make a sharp turn, or hit a bump. Could this indicate the bearings (windings?) in the motor?

When you say the 'blower comes as an assembly', would that be the circular fan (blades) and the motor itself? I'm fairly handy around cars, and will definitely do the replacement myself.
Do you know of website that sells the whole part I need? I have A/C, so I guess mine is the 'two-way flow heater'.

And is this what you were describing as being held by 3 screws?



Thanks!

Its pretty straight forward to replace. It comes as an assembly, motor, fan all assembled. If you look at the bottom picture with the big 4 next to it. The three screws i was talking about, that hold the it have a little arrow pointing to them in the picture. You remove those three and it come right out. You can try that website
http://www.toyotapartscheap.com/

[twiki]

Hi littleslim1474,

Thanks for the tip, and the website for the part.

One thing leaves me a little uneasy, is the lack of any pictures of the parts being sold.


Even a detailed description like Hvac, Controls, Blower motor, Blower motor, echo, w/cold spec does not give me the reassurance that I'm ordering the correct part. Conceivably, I would remove mine to examine it (and maybe take some pictures of it), replace it, and then order the part needed.
Shipping from this supplier is 10% of the cost, so it would cost me just under $130.

Any Canadians know if Can Tire has this part?


Thanks.

[Gene_WI]

Be careful removing the ac duct. The big white plastic casing. There are many undocumented screws closer to the firewall.

While you are there check the resistor, even if you think it is not a problem. My troubles started with squealing, and noises, and a year later the blower stopped working all together.

Here is a picture of where the screws are.
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=...0&tx=131&ty=85

[twiki]

Thanks Gene.

I'll keep an eye out for those.

[twiki]

Hi,

I finally got around to buying the replacement part from Canadian Tire (CT).
Turns out that it's only the motor (VDO), rather than the complete assembly I was somehow expecting.

Can anyone tell me if this is the right part? After tax, it's around $145.

Originally Posted by littleslim1474

Its pretty straight forward to replace. It comes as an assembly, motor, fan all assembled. If you look at the bottom picture with the big 4 next to it. The three screws i was talking about, that hold the it have a little arrow pointing to them in the picture. You remove those three and it come right out. You can try that website
http://www.toyotapartscheap.com/

Assuming for the moment that the motor alone is the correct replacement, the next step is getting to the faulty motor.


Red arrows: I've removed these three screws, but nothing moves.
Yellow arrows: Do I also have to remove this screw and this linkage? What else do I have to remove?
Blue arrows: Plastic was brittle and I broke this clip off.


How do I get from 3 to 4?
What screws do I remove when I am faced with 3, so that I can get to 4?

There seem to be so many steps, but I am not sure what physical part each step refers to here...
1) REMOVE AIR DUCT (MOTOR COVER)
2) DISCONNECT CONTROL LINK
3) DISCONNECT THE CONNECTORS
4) DISCONNECT THE CONNECTOR CLAMPS
5) DISCONNECT THE WIRE HARNESS CLAMPS
6) REMOVE THE SCREW
7) RELEASE CLAW, REMOVE AIR DUCT

I realize that there are warnings of undocumented screws attached to the firewall.
Does this mean that the entire assembly needs to be removed?


Thanks Guys.

[twiki]

Hi All,

GOOD NEWS:
I managed to get the thing fixed.

BAD NEWS:
But it was anything but easy, and ended up being really costly for me.

To cut a long story short, I now have a BN, unused, VDO blower motor, from Canadian Tire, for 2000-2005 Toyota Echo that's useless to me.

It's posted in the Car Parts for Sale section: 2-way Blower Motor (only) for 2000-2005 Echo (and maybe other Toyotas).


You can also read the whole sordid tale over there...

[stepback]

So how did you actually fix this? I have the exact same problem. I removed the screws couldn't get it to budge. Snapped the same clip. I just ended up putting it back together. What did you do to fix it?
Thanks

[twiki]

Took it to a shop. Theirs has a lifetime warranty (when they install it).
Even they said it was tough.

They ended up charging me for the part (I think it was ~ $220) and an hour and a half of shop time. It should have been an hour, but for the abortive attempt to install the motor that I had bought from CT (didn't work, so read my post carefully).

[flyafish]

Two parts websites that I like to use are as follows.
This one shows illustrations http://www.toyotapartseast.com/ This one shows compatability between Toyota models for any given part
http://www.toyotapartszone.com/

I hope that these are helpful.