The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot '60-'66 Trucks 1965 Chevrolet C10 - heater blower motor squeal

1965 Chevrolet C10 - deluxe heater - blower motor - loud squeal on highest fan setting.


Is this something that needs lubrication or is it a death squeal?

It is a loud and persistent high pitched squeal... I thought maybe it was dusty or unbalanced, so I tapped on the case housing with it running and squealing and it will quit for a little while, then start back.

Is this a bearings going bad situation or does it need some lubrication somewhere?

Any tips are appreciated.

Thanks.

-W

heater core re-assembly photos

since it is so nice and nearabouts freezing outside, I left the hood up so it'd cool down faster.

I went ahead and took the blower motor out to check it out.

I sprayed a lot of that electronics spray cleaner on it to knock the grime and dust off of it, then let it dry.

I also hooked it up so I could run it without it being in the cage and turned it off and on and it didn't squeal again, yet.

I put it back together and reinstalled it, sitting still in the driveway, no squealing... hmnn.

Not sure what it'll do when I fire it up tho' and get it hot again!

Any tips and suggestions are still appreciated.

Oh yeah... how do you get the fan off of the motor without destroying them both? I saw the little nut on the shaft there... and I'm guessing it is press fit on... and the piece just below the nut looks like it is separate from the rest of the fan.

Thanks folks,

-W

To remove the fan it is best to have 2 people. Take off the nut or clip. One guy wrap both hands around the cage. The other guy tap the shaft with a plastic hammer. Hold it over a bench. You can oil the front bushing around the shaft & drill a hole in the rear to oil the rear bushing. These motors arn't very expensive.

If it's been there too long a new fan wheel is not too much $$$. Sometimes the metal fan & the shaft become one.

This is the one we use.

Replacement heater blower motor

$19.95, plus tax at O'Reilly.

This thread here , the fella "Rich 5150 69" has a photo of what the inside of my fan looks like, minus the pop rivets...

Thanks for the replies folks.

-W

electronics cleaner will get rid of any lube on it. the squeel is no lubrication. try some oil where the shaft meets the motor. if still a problem you would have to take motor apart to grease bearing in the back

I get that the nut comes off... then just pull firmly on the cage until it comes off?

Is there another piece on there that also comes loose, after the nut is removed?

-W

No, the nut comes off and the wheel is pressed onto the shaft. They can be a bugger to separate if they are rusted together. Wrenchbender posted a good way to separate them.

yeah I saw what Wrench wrote... just making sure I wasn't missing something.

Thanks folks.

-W

4-5-6, thanks for that part number... that is the new motor I wound up getting...

... now if I can get that cage off and back on without destroying it!

-W

ok... using the excellent tip from Wrenchbender Ret.(thanks WT!), I got the cage loose... take the nut off, hold or have someone else hold the fan, then tap on the shaft... once it is flush, use a punch or a small screwdriver, etc.. to tap it on through. pop. It is off. Yay.

An issue I had with the replacement motor: the replacement motor(from the parts stores - Siemens VD0 PM102) is longer/deeper and did not want to go back into the heater housing space with the fan on. This is a problem.

I didn't want to pull the entire heater core again so I did some thinking.

This is what wound up working...

I took my new motor and plugged it in and laid it down on the fender and the exhaust manifold so that it would get a good ground... why? To test it and make sure it works before I went through all of this hassle... it zoomed along nicely. OK, turn it all off, unplug it and let the aggravation begin...

I looked at the old fan and the new fan... lined up the holes that were used and I marked the ones I needed to use on the new motor with a white paint pen(which I had laying around, cuz it is handy for touching up the white grill on a beat up truck, but I digress)...

I removed the cage fan from the motor. I put the cage fan up into the housing and slightly on the bench inside so it wouldn't fall back down, then I wiggled the motor into the space, dropped the fan back down onto the shaft and then had a slight tussle with trying to get it to line up on the shaft. Then you have to wiggle the nut onto the end of the shaft with yer fingers and not really being able to see it(use the force!) and run it down finger tight.

Once it was lined up and dropped down, there was not a lot of room, so I leaned the motor at an angle, with the cage fan still stuck partly in the housing, and used a small crescent wrench to slip in and tighten the nut down onto the shaft.

I found that putting in the first screw, in the hole on the motor, which faces the front of the truck, gives a nice pivot point to work the other two side front holes for putting it all back into the housing.

I used a ratchet, 1/4 deep well socket (space issues) one short extension and 1/4 regular socket, depending on which screw I was running in.

Remember to plug the fan connecter back in on the back!

Maybe all of that will be useful to someone in the future if they are stuck doing this.

It blows the air real strong through the ducts now... whoo hoo.

-W

EDIT : this issue with the blower motor not sliding back up and in may only be an issue because of the later model v8(1992 block 350/5.7L) in my truck, I dunno. That is what is in there, so that is what I had to deal with. It may not be an issue in a 327 truck or a inline six, I don't know... but, thought I'd mention it, in case.