Don't use WD40. You have a worn blower motor bearing; the squirrel-cage fan acts like a gyroscope when spinning. When you turn, it precesses the gyroscope and adds pressure to the (presumably sleeve-type) bearing. So it squeaks.

A replacement motor/blower assembly is insanely expensive. What I did was try to force some silicone grease down into the bearing. I used Synco Super Lube, because I already had some for use on rocket motor seals. You'll have to take the assembly out to do this; access is indeed by removing the glove box. Spraying something in there is not an option.

WD40 is way too thin to stay in place very long, and as you noted, stinks.

I've been running squeak-free for almost a year now.

 

do you have more detailed instructions on how to do this?

 

Awesome. I was mostly hoping this wasn't a sign that my blower assembly was going out. Is the glove compartment pretty easy to remove?

 

Please! I've exactly the same problem on my B5.5. Annoying...

 

I tore into my blower motor last night. I have the Climatic (auto temp) HVAC on my 03. After removing the blower motor assembly the motor itself is held into the plastic housing with three rubber retaining tabs. Once the blower motor assembly was in two pieces it was easy access to both ends of the rotating shaft. I used spray silicone while slowly spinning the squirel cage. I haven't driven the car yet to see if it's fixed, but I did notice the squirel cage spins with much less resistance than when I initially removed it.

Any other success stories/suggestions?

:thumbup:

 

I just finished putting my glve box back together after attempting to quiet the squeek, which was driving me crazy slowly (slowly crazy?) I just sprayed a silicone lubricant everywhere that I thought that it would do any good. My biggest problem was getting the glove box back correctly. There are a lot of little clips and rings that attach the lower section. Helps to have Barbie size hands and be flexible. I don't think that I got it back in to place exactly the way it should be, but it is going to have to do. I'll hope that the spray helps, if not, I'll go to grease.

 

i recently removed my glove box and then the blower and you cant get to the engine side of the blower, only can spray the shaft that the squirrel cage is on. I cleaned up the squirrel cage which was full of black shit on it, and then sprayed lubricant where i could to the shaft.

It spun noticably easier after that by hand and didnt squeak anymore.

However, since it squeaks, the bearings are fucked and this is only a temporary fix. it will squeak again a year later.

 

My 04 GLX 4mo fan did this same thing last week. It has 62000 miles and the blower should have lasted longer. Dealer wanted $450 for the climatronic blower. I got an OE blower from my import parts retailer for only $210.

If the bearings fail and the motor draws too much current, it will take out some other components designed to protect the system. After I put the new motor in, I will refit the old one with ball bearings.

 

Did you have any luck 'retorfitting' with ball-bearings??

Just got my Passat in Nov, there was some intermittent squeaking when it was cold in turns.

Now, I realised today what I thought was the A/C de-pressurizing is actually the sound of my blower motor grinding to a halt over 15 seconds when I turn the car off....

So, I will try silicone lube but I want a way out if it doesn't work that won't set me back $200+ for a freaking DC motor!! So any status on this fix would be very helpful!

 

Update to my October posts above - my fan is just starting to squeak again, 13 months after lubricating it. Not happy, but better than I expected...

 

The motor comes out with three screws, one of which is pretty tough to get at, but with a stubby, it is doable. You then have a lot more access to spray anything that looks likely. Mine was really clean, but the cage was pretty slow. I took it out today and the job I did yesterday seems to be holding-one day at a time...

 

My 2004 with 12000km has a squeeky blower....I think I'll just play the stereo louder!

 

Mine only squeaks when the climatronic switches to the floor vents. I just turn up the monsoon!

 

I went the "remove- cabin- filter- route" and it was a fairly easy fix for a very annoying problem that I suffered with for a long time. Not sure if I was right in doing this so if you do choose to do it, do so at your own risk. I cleaned my cabin filter....then while the filter was out, I located the main fan type thing that revolves and I sprayed the center dowel (metal shaft) with a lubricant. It worked, but maybe I took a chance for other problems. None yet , 2 years or more. Ask a tech,???? I didnt though. As someone pointed out, after removing the cabin filter the fan motor and shaft is visible. I used a silicone spray ( cannot remember the name) and sprayed the shaft and some of the surrounding area a little bit . The noise disappeared and I have been squeak-free for about 2 years now. It worked for me but cannot say if it was the safest thing to do. I worried for a while that other problems were going to commence do to the spray....but every thing worked out fine.

 

I went the "remove- cabin- filter- route" and it was a fairly easy fix for a very annoying problem that I suffered with for a long time. Not sure if I was right in doing this so if you do choose to do it, do so at your own risk. I cleaned my cabin filter....then while the filter was out, I located the main fan type thing that revolves and I sprayed the center dowel (metal shaft) with a lubricant. It worked, but maybe I took a chance for other problems. None yet , 2 years or more. Ask a tech,???? I didnt though. As someone pointed out, after removing the cabin filter the fan motor and shaft is visible. I used a silicone spray ( cannot remember the name) and sprayed the shaft and some of the surrounding area a little bit . The noise disappeared and I have been squeak-free for about 2 years now. It worked for me but cannot say if it was the safest thing to do. I worried for a while that other problems were going to commence do to the spray....but every thing worked out fine.

you wont be able to spray the back of the shaft from this angle, you should really remove the blower unit, its really easy, just 3 screws once you have the glovebox out (which is also really easy to remove, just a bunch of torx screws holding it on)

the way you did, won't lubricate anything worth lubricating, i cant see how it could help

the squirrel cage also gets black from pollution, when you remove the unit you may want to clean it up with rubbing alcohol so you dont breath in that shit.

 

"the way you did, won't lubricate anything worth lubricating, i cant see how it could help"




Well....it did work totally. The spray can I used had a straw attached so I could get the proper angle to propel the spray in the right direction to hit the shaft directly. Seemed to me that this was an easier solution than taking out the glove compartment and removing the entire blower unit which seemed kind of complicated to me. So, bottom line is it did work for me and believe me I am very glad to g
et rid of that annoying constant squeak.

 

I got just over three weeks on my blower fix. Spray silicone helped for a while, but methinks grease will be the next step. Curious thing-it only sqeeks when I am turning-speed does not seem to be a factor so I can't see how the physical act of turnig would affect the blower, but obviously it does.
Anyone know if it is possible or advisable to change the bearings in the blower motor? Is this DIYable?

 

Curious thing-it only sqeeks when I am turning-speed does not seem to be a factor so I can't see how the physical act of turnig would affect the blower, but obviously it does.

It's called gyroscopic procession. I won't go into too much detail, but basically when a force is applied on a rotating mass, the force acts at a 90 degree angle towards the direction of spin. So (I don't remember which way the motor spins) if say the motor spins clockwise, when viewed from the passenger seat, and a force is applied on the left side (ie.-a left turn) then the force actually acts on top of the motor which can wear down the bearings and cause a squeak. Its not an easy concept to understand, many of my student pilots have struggled with it. You could probably google it if you want to learn more.

:thumbup:

I didn't realize this thread had been posted on. Sadly enough, since the weather started turning cold in late Oct./ early nov. after I posted this, I haven't tried to fix my squeak. I just grin and bear it.

 

Sir,
I have been wanting to ask that question for a while now!
The squeak yes, I hear it all the time, sounds like a beeping noise that's steady.
When I turn the wheel here and there, even when its in park. It drives me nuts.