Interior fan climate control suddenly has a rumble - it just started out of the blue

[zellershp]

All of a sudden - like from going into a store and returning in a few minutes - i noticed a sound of a imbalance in the fan. When I manually speed it up the entire dashboard and center counsel start to vibrate. I assume something found its way into the squirrel cage of my fan.

I removed the cabin filter and there was quite a bit of leaves, etc on the difty side of the filter. Using the wet and dry vac, I sucked out the clean side of the duct hoping it would clear anything back to the fan. Didn't seem to help.

I assume the filter is at the inlet of the fan - right?

For something to get to the fan, it would have to get by the filter - am I wrong?

Is there a reasonable way to get to the fan? Or at least to get a vacuum hose to it?

What I've seen on YouTube is quite involved.

 

Thanks - John

[zellershp]

I did a little more research - on this forum - and read a possible solution.

 

As I understand it, when the system is in "recirc" the fan pulls air from the cabin without going past the filter. I may have sucked something up from the passenger floor. It was suggested to hold the door open with a screwdriver and then I may be able to vacuum out the squirrel cage of the fan.

 

Another day under the dash. When I try it, I'll let you know.