Blower Motor Squeaking in Cold Weather at Start

[dsc888]

Hey Guys,

It's been pretty cold lately here in the Northeast these past few days and I noticed that there is an annoying squeak coming from inside the dash when I start my car. It's high pitched and will go away pretty quickly once the car warms up. I can also make it go away if I turn up the fan speed on the HVAC. The LED shows the fan running at the lowest speed, 1 bar, when the squeak is heard.

It sounds like bad blower fan bearings to me. But then it's fine in warm weather above freezing or after the car warms up. Has anyone had this before? Was it easily fixed by the dealer...say with a blower fan replacement?

Thanks for your help.

 

[table5511]

I think that is normal, in really cold weather for any car. You have a blower motor that is frozen cold and it gets turned on at very slow revolutions and everything inside that electric motor is cold. I notice the same thing on the lowest fan setting when it is really cold, but it is very faint and goes away quickly.

 

[dsc888]

Thanks helbigtw! It's a little annoying because none of my other cars did this on cold days. They sounded "rough" but never squeaked. But I guess I will see if it gets worse with time. Perhaps the sourced blower motors have bearings that are not as well lubricated in situations where the temps are below freezing.

 

[table5511]

It's likely a "motorcraft" part. My Nissan Altima had the same problem when it was cold, but it was much, much louder. Never became worse, but was very annoying.

 

[sjg]

I've had this problem as well. Usually fine once everything warms up but when its about 15 or lower outside it pretty much never warms up enough to stop sqeaking (even after hours of driving). I'm at 95K miles and my extended warranty runs through 100K miles. I want to take this to the dealer but I'm sure whenever I get there the noise will go away.