Hi everyone,

My R56 blower motor only make noise when it was cold outside, once the temperature warms up the noise disappeared. The noise only appears on low fan settings, when I turn up the fan speed the noise goes away. I did a search but cannot find anything related to temp and blower fan noise, any suggestions?

Thank you,

Sincerely,
mtgperson

 

same year and model as yours and mine just started doing it now that it is really cold (20) outside. Drove me nuts this week until I shut off the fan and noticed the sound went away.

Guessing the first check is to remove the CAF and see what it looks like and check the fan motor for wear. it could just be a side effect of the auto climate control running the fan all the time. I never shut mine off. Have to try and check it this weekend.

 

gvcmel,

Thanks, how do I access the CAF? Can you check the fan motor without removing the dash board? I heard the fan itself is not that expensive, but removing the dash requires a lot of labour, can you give me some tips? Much appreciated!

 

The CAF is supposed to available just below the glove box. Pull a couple of screws and then pull the cover. the CAF is a serpentine installation (meaning it runs in a channel in a S curve). I will be doing this on Saturday and will try to post an update on where the blower motor is and access to it.

Try realoem.com to research location/access/costs to replace. It's a great resource and free. It's always my first information dip then I check the TIS system to see what it has to say.

Right now I can't say but the fan looks to be pretty easy to access. Saturday will tell. It is an expensive little bugger at $120 list.

 

gvcmel,

Thanks, I will check the CAF this weekend.

This realoem.com web site is really useful, I will keep it as reference.

Please let me know how it goes on Saturday

 

After pulling the CAF and getting down there the fan motor looks to be a real project to access. It is up behind the CAF housing imbedded in the side of the center AC/Heating installation. I just checked the TIS and there does not seem to be anything on changing the fan or accessing it.

Looks like I have to put up with the noise for a while yet. It may be a simple job once the process is understood but it is buried.

More research is needed. Hate these installations that require three hours of work to access a part that will take five minutes to replace.

 

Ok, lunch and an hour looking at the TIS and I found the information on accessing the fan motor. Here it is in summary form. Time to execute the removal and re-installation was one hour.

1. Remove the knee bolster below the steering wheel. three screws across the bottom.
2. remove the panel right besides the gas pedal. two screws. pull the cover down and back to clear.
Now for the fun!
3. move the drivers seat all the way back and crawl under the dash. the fan motor is up behind the dogs dish. It will have three rubber lines on it (vibration damping for the housing) and is held in by three screws. The ones in the white rubber are not the access screws. One screw is at 3, one at 7 and one about 10. The ones at three and 7 are easy to access. More on the one at 10 later. Pull the connector for the wiring at the bottom, squeeze both sides and pull it straight out.
4. might was well do the painful one first. the screw at 10 is partially shrouded by the wiring harness so can only be turned in small increments. The other two are pretty easy to extract.
5. with all three screws out the fan assembly pulls straight out. in the usual british understatement you will "free the unit and remove". That involves a couple of turns this way and that to clear wiring, steering, sound deadening and the throttle/brake pedals.
6. now that it is out you can pull the three screws that are in the white rubber. this will free the cover from the fan motor. Mine was not too dirty so I worked a couple of drops of light oil into both bearing assemblies.

As they say - assembly is the reverse of removal. Five minutes will pass threading the fan assembly back up through the obstacles passed in removing it.
7. insert the three screws that hold the fan in and reconnect the power plug. I would suggest testing the fan functionality now before putting the knee bolster and cover back on.

Reinstall the cover and the knee bolster. Clean up and call the chiropractor to fix your back after cramming your way under the dash.

Tomorrow will tell if the sound coming from the fan as "dry" bearings or not. It was very consistent in making noise by the time I had driven the 20 minutes to work.

 

Two days drive to work and the moaning from the fan is gone. Would seem to indicate the bearings are running dry already after three years and 42K miles.

Guess I will have to source a new fan and start thinking about the replacement. Question is - why are they dry already?

 

gvcmel,

Thanks for sharing, you're most resourceful. It also seems a bit odd the fan bearings are running dry only after three years - it seems a bit pre-mature.

 

Yeah, it does seem odd but if you look at it from a different direction the fan has been running for 42K miles. Not sure how many hours that works out to be as it is on all the time when the car is running.

It's still quiet after a week so that seems to have delayed the replacement for now. Was thinking about how to get some lubricant into the bearings but I don't think the pressed on plastic squirrel cage is going to come off. Plus getting it exactly square to the shaft on assembly just seems like a good exercise in frustration.

May have to swallow my pride and order a new one soon.

 

OMG... thank you for posting this and eric0919 for bringing it to my attention. I searched hard on NAM for this issue and found nothing. I even posted about it with a sound clip:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ml#post3234332
And to think the answer's been sitting right here since December...
Do you have a link to the TIS? I did a super quick google search and found a bunch of pdfs, but none on this subject. I'll do some more searching today.
I think with your instruction I should be just fine... but I like to look at pictures before going in if I can.
Thank again!

 

Follow up - Mid March.

The TIS is available on Ebay for small money and really worth it. If you do a lot of your own work it is really nice to have. Plus, lets you know just how big a pile of s&%T the dealer may be facing when you take it in. Knowledge sometime equals dealer honesty, which is sad.

Still have not heard the bearing noise out of the fan since pulling it back in December. Amazing that those few small drops of oil worked that well but they seem to have. Almost thinking this should become a fall maintenance item as soon as I think about the winter tires - pull the fan and drop some oil on it. Easier to do when it is 50 out then 30.

Now to find the rattle under the engine when I start it in the morning. Knocked something loose at the rallycross a couple of weeks back.

 

Hi,
I've been having problems with the same thing, my blower was making almost like a rattling sound especially the first minutes after starting the car and at low speeds.
I thought I had something loose in there, but found this tread and did the same thing. Removed the fan and dropped some oil in the bearings. This was yesterday, but so far so good. The noise is gone.

My mini is a Diesel, might have something to do with that, but I had a black box, the size and form of a CD-drive for a stationary computer, which was also in the way. It is mounted right above the brake pedal. This also needs to be removed to be able to get the fan out.

Thanks,
Mike

 

Ugh. Suddenly I'm getting a noise from my fan, but it's not the chirping described by others. Mine's definitely an "squirrel cage out of balance" vibration. At low fan speeds the noise is a steady tapping sound that corresponds to the fan speed. At 3 bars and higher, the noise becomes an awful vibration that I can feel not only in the dash but even in the pedals!

I dread taking it to the dealer (just because they're 45 minutes away and it's a hassle), so maybe I'll open it up using the instructions in this thread and take a look myself. Maybe something just shifted out of place and I can fix it. Or maybe there's a mouse corpse in the cage and I can release it into the wild.

 

Thats what i was thinking, mouse nest or junk.

 

Well yesterday it seems to have fixed itself. No more clicking, no more vibration.

Hope it lasts!

 

Might have been some debris that got past the cabin filter and blew out.

 

I highly suspect mice, as I have been troubled by them before.

A few drops of peppermint oil on the cabin filter should help.

 

I bought fogging oil.....any kind I think will do. Used a plastic bag to rig a close seal, beat I could. FOG IT!!!! Don't be in a hurry and the smell is negligible after a very short time. Did this along with wiggling an oil spout to the shaft as best as I could. It's quiet now....time will tell. It's simple fast and easy to do so if I have to re do it....so what.

 

I know this post is almost 8 years old, but my blower motor finally went in my 2010 Mini R55 with 57K. I bought an ACM blower motor and crawled under there to attempt this... And have 2 questions:

1. How do you remove the computer module bracket to give more clearance? I see the one bolt, but can't find the second holding it on.

2. Are there any tricks to making it easier, has anyone used a mirror to see on where the blower motor is?

 

While this post may be a bit dated, I just wanted to say thank you to @gvcmel for the instructions. All in all, with the right tools, took about an hour for removal and install. Not a fun task and I've done a lot on the Mini. This one was hard because of the contorting that must be done. However I now have heat before winter, so I am much appreciative for your honest instructions. Thank you.

 

Yes - I did this right about 2 weeks ago and I needed a flex thing/driver(?) to get to that 3rd upper screw. It definitely gave me a sense of accomplishment after taking me a month of trying to get the old one out.

​​​​​​People sharing information like this is invaluable. Saves everyone money if we can save the mechanic for big jobs.

 

^^ +1

 

Did you have to remove the steering column to get the motor out?