I bought my honda accord a few weeks ago from someone who didn't give her the love she deserves. Amongst major issues like the Alternator failing, there are some interior issues, first up was the AC.

Note about my write ups : I am not a tech, I work in the electronics industry so I hope my laymen approach helps someone. I write them explaining the order of operation to get the diagnosis I needed but not the repair. There are a lot of repair guides out there who can explain better than I ever could.

When I would turn the AC on it should vibrate the dash. The air flow was pretty low and when I'd turn it on 3 or 4 the vibrations got worse.

I also noticed when I would turn off the AC it would make this odd noise like trash in the fan. Imagine throwing a handful of gravel into a fan spinning down, like that.

I began looking online, found a video on replacing the motor. As I was trying to go cheap, as you always should at first, I went ahead and pulled out the blower motor located under the passenger-side dash, right behind the bottom of the glove box. Plan was to diagnose the problem before I throw money at it, pull the fan and start it, listen to it, etc.

Part of me thought, well, maybe a bolt is missing so it's swaying and hitting the dash - would explain the shake right? Might also explain the sound it makes when it spins down I thought.

Three screws hold the fan in place. Once those are out it pulls out a few inches then you need to tilt it and pull out the fan wheel.

Mine had all 3 screws/bolts in it, so 1 theory put to bed.

When I pulled my blower motor out about 4 cups of leaves and junk came out with it. This is a common problem apparently and explains the sound while the fan cuts off. While the fan is on max it blows the leaves up and when it turns off, they come crashing back down into the fan blades.

Optimistic as I am I didn't believe that it was just leaves. I put the car in accessory and started the fan, low and behold, the fan is making an awful clicking noise.

Of course being a cheapskate I then think, well, maybe it's the cheap plastic fan blades catching on the base. So I held the clip and pulled the blades (cone) off.

As soon as I pulled the cone off of the motor I saw metal shavings around the shaft. Again I put the car in accessory, started the fan, the fan made a loud clicking noise. The shaft of the motor was damaged.

I picked up a replacement for about $55 at Advanced Auto Parts and hooked it up, swapped the fan blades / cone over to the new motor and popped it in.

The new fan motor makes virtually no noise and gives a good steady air flow.

Hope this helps someone with a noisy AC.

 

Nice write up.