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Rattling/grinding noise coming from passenger side w/ climate control on.


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Hello everyone, haven't had to make a fresh thread in a while, the Pathy's been good to me lately!!

 

Just yesterday I finally got my Pathfinder back from AAMCO transmissions with a fresh RE4R01A slapped in her, she's running great in that regard. What's not so great is the noise I've been hearing from the passenger side when I turn on my climate controls. It's sort of a rattling/kind of grinding noise that changes speed and pitch with the speed of the fan. When it's on setting 1 it's the most audible, with setting 2 being a little louder, and then setting 3 sounds like it's almost gone... but then again that could just be because of the overpowering noise of the fans!

I remember driving her home from college last winter when my tranny failed, and just prior to that trip it started making the noise. I know that's not related in any way, I just know that it was something that happened when I was driving her, and not done by my mechanic over the past 3 months (yes they had my car for three months to put in a brand new tranny. long story).

 

Also I should mention I just cleaned out my blower resistors today, there was a little bit of debris inside but upon vacuuming and reinstalling everything, no cigar. It sounded like the noise was almost coming from what I assume is the blower fan... I feel stupid now for not pulling out my phone and snapping a few photos of it. I'm just curious if anyone has had a similar issue to this or if anyone has removed/disassembled the blower fan.

Thanks in advance!

Edited by Bobsteriffic
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They're pretty easy to remove, three screws and a plug, though one of the screws can be a little tricky to get to because the fan motor's in the way. I seem to remember taking the motor on my '95 completely apart at some point to clean it out, but that was long enough ago that I don't remember how exactly it disassembles. I do remember that it had a bunch of brush dust inside, and that stuff gets everywhere (being graphite and all), so be careful about where you disassemble it. You might find the issue just by removing the fan and messing with it by hand. A single leaf caught in that fan can make a surprising amount of noise.

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They're pretty easy to remove, three screws and a plug, though one of the screws can be a little tricky to get to because the fan motor's in the way. I seem to remember taking the motor on my '95 completely apart at some point to clean it out, but that was long enough ago that I don't remember how exactly it disassembles. I do remember that it had a bunch of brush dust inside, and that stuff gets everywhere (being graphite and all), so be careful about where you disassemble it. You might find the issue just by removing the fan and messing with it by hand. A single leaf caught in that fan can make a surprising amount of noise.

Thanks for the info Slartibartfast!

 

I'll tear back into my dash later today and give it a shot, time permitting. I'll definitely take the entire assembly out of my car before I disassemble it then, I just cleaned her yesterday lol. And yes, after driving her more last night I really wouldn't be surprised if it's just a leaf or twig, I'll make sure and post later on my findings!

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Alright! I was out of the country for a week so I haven't had a chance to take a look at the Pathy until today, and the mission was a success!

 

Sure enough as you mentioned, Slartibartfast, the culprit was some twigs and a dried up leaf lodged inside the fan blade. I didn't even need to remove all 3 screws, just the front 2 so I could fit a small pair of needle-nose pliers inside to pull the debris out. After reassembling everything it's perfectly quiet again. Thanks again for the help guys, this forum is the best.

 

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