Ctgriffi Posted August 26, 2015 Share Posted August 26, 2015 I've had the Warrior covered up all summer, waiting for the heat and humidity to subside. Finally, the days are getting bearable again, so, with the end in sight, I yanked off the cover today and fired up the motor for a test drive. Started just fine and drove nice and smooth, just like I'd hoped. Heading back home, I cranked the cab AC up for the heck of it and was startled by a loud, continuous moan from the blower. Seems to "work" fine, but it definitely never sounded like this before. Any idea what might be going on? Where should I start looking? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rick deckert Posted August 26, 2015 Share Posted August 26, 2015 This sounds like what i heard first time turning on the air on my toyota!I removed blower motor and cleaned out the mouse nest and no more problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjrbus Posted August 26, 2015 Share Posted August 26, 2015 Sounds like something got into fan? Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ctgriffi Posted August 26, 2015 Author Share Posted August 26, 2015 This sounds like what i heard first time turning on the air on my toyota!I removed blower motor and cleaned out the mouse nest and no more problem. Yeah, that's pretty much what I'm expecting to find. Is that blower motor up under the dash, behind the glove box? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob C Posted August 26, 2015 Share Posted August 26, 2015 I had the same problem when I bought my Toyhouse. The fan did not turn at all. I disassembled the blower, cleaned it out and replaced the fuse and now it works fine. On my '88 Escaper the fan is under the dash on the passenger side. It is kind of a pain to get out only because of the tight area. I think it was 4 bolts and an electrical connection. I pulled the fan out, vacuumed out what I could and then used a leaf blower to blow air into the vents, defroster, and heater vent to blow any leftover mouse nest out. I am glad that I did the last part because a lot of garbage was blown out of the vent tubes. I would suggest wearing a respirator when doing this job because mouse droppings can make you really sick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjrbus Posted August 26, 2015 Share Posted August 26, 2015 On my 93 it is all the way to the passenger side behind the glove box. One screw was a bear to get out and took everything I had to pull the fan and motor out! Putting it back in was near impossible, so I cut out the grate, put the fan in and then installed motor. installed clip on fan through the cut out grate! The other photo is the AC evaporator, that is not a nest! it is just crap that had collected in there over the years. HTH Jim Left click photos to enlarge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ctgriffi Posted August 27, 2015 Author Share Posted August 27, 2015 Yes, that did help. After spending an hour on this, I can now see exactly what you mean, Jim. Getting that fan/motor out was surprisingly difficult since the back bolt/screw was like an inch from the firewall, angled towards the firewall! Maybe Toyota didn't plan on those needing service... ever! Anyway, here's what was causing the racket; appears to be a wooden bead about 5/8" tall, lightly chewed on one side. Must've seemed like "quite a find" for some diminutive critter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjrbus Posted August 27, 2015 Share Posted August 27, 2015 I'm wondering, on my 93 I had a bear of a time pulling the fan and motor out, then reinstalling was very difficult. Other than the screw did you have the same issue? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ctgriffi Posted August 27, 2015 Author Share Posted August 27, 2015 Haven't reinstalled yet but it came out through the bottom, so I think it'll have to go back in that way. I'm waiting a bit til I get the chance to stick my shop-vac hose up in there (left the vac at another job that's still in process). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjrbus Posted August 28, 2015 Share Posted August 28, 2015 When I took mine out I had to use lots of force, thought I was going to break the fan! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Totem Posted August 29, 2015 Share Posted August 29, 2015 That bead needs to go on the keychain... war souvenir .. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ctgriffi Posted August 31, 2015 Author Share Posted August 31, 2015 @totem: Haha, yes. The bead looks exactly like an acorn, btw, the more I thought about it (minus the "hat"). @Jim: I had a little difficulty reinserting the blower unit, but it wasn't too bad. There was a thick piece of firewall insulation that was partially obstructing the path, but once I got that pushed aside it was all good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bufbooth Posted August 31, 2015 Share Posted August 31, 2015 Be sure to inspect the blower motor speed reduction relay that is in the vent to the left of the blower motor. Last October a mouse built a nest on the relay (looks like 3 or 4 zig zag wires) and it caught fire, melted the blower motor (like 50% of it dripped on the floor) before I was able to get the fire out. The entire cab filled with dark black smoke while I was driving (that is trying to pull over). I have the replacement blower motor/housing and a replacement glove box to install next week. I am going to screen in the blower motor speed reduction relay and try to find / screen in where the mice was getting into the blower motor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ctgriffi Posted August 31, 2015 Author Share Posted August 31, 2015 Thanks for the tip; I'll keep an eye on that. Given the great love that mice seem to have have for destroying these aging motorhomes—and the fact that these vehicles also apparently absorb water like giant sponges on wheels—I am getting a bit discouraged. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Totem Posted September 4, 2015 Share Posted September 4, 2015 I bait and trap my rig every winter as part of the process. knocking on wood so far never had a rat in the trap.. also bait the pontoon in storage after having control cables chewed to pieces which on a 200 hp vmax aint cheap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snail powered Posted September 7, 2015 Share Posted September 7, 2015 Rodents are always suspect...lowdown no good dirty rats Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ctgriffi Posted May 31, 2023 Author Share Posted May 31, 2023 (edited) Update to this old thread, for my future self and any others who have to clean out the blower on a regular basis... the three (painful) screws that hold the blower motor in place have 8mm hex heads with M-25 Torx centers. (This time, I decided to just leave the front two in place, skip the rear one when I reinstalled.) Edited May 31, 2023 by Ctgriffi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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