Guess what I did yesterday... - F-Body Road Racing and Autocross Forums

Not work on my car like I planned! Instead I was in the attic doing this...

(IMG:http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v199/Steve91T/95841BF2-3254-44EF-B1D5-B0D0AF212799.jpg)

Not fun!

My wife and myself woke up at 3 am the other night because it was hot and stuffy in the house. My pregnant wife was not happy. Outside it was 60 degrees with 100% humidity. We had no airflow from the vents. I spent about 45 minutes messing with the thermostat and found that the fan wasn't working. The next day I called an HVAC guy and he said it could be the fan motor itself, or the circuit board. He quoted me between $600 and $800. No thank you. I called up my single buddy who's always willing to help, we poured a beer and climbed into the attic. Neither one of us had a clue as to what we were doing. We did find that fan would hum when turned on. OK good, it's not electrical. We get to the fan and try to turn it by hand and it would turn, but only with a lot of effort. I guess that means the bearings locked up. The unit is 16 years old and its happened to a lot of my neighbors. I call up my neighbor who owns an HVAC company, gave him some part numbers, and 2 hrs and $330, I had a brand new OEM fan in my hands.

So, back into the attic I go.

The fan...

(IMG:http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v199/Steve91T/9696C302-81FE-42BD-8E04-12CDB2CCD008.jpg)

(IMG:http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v199/Steve91T/146B455B-F632-40A3-8361-9B3A062E5321.jpg)

The bottom of the fan. All I had to do was remove the lock bolt and pull the fan motor out of the fan itself.

(IMG:http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v199/Steve91T/27333491-6634-4586-9901-93479451475D.jpg)

This is where things get interesting. The fan shaft was stuck on the fan. I took a dead blow hammer and went to town. It was really stuck, but I managed to get it to move about 3/4". Then all of a sudden it would spin freely. WTF. It was fine. So I put it back together, yell to my wife to turn it on and all is well.

All button up.

(IMG:http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v199/Steve91T/60E60099-3134-4D19-B019-F00053EE1EEF.jpg)

Sitting on plastic bins full of forgotten Christmas decorations wasn't fun. And by forgotten, I mean my wife has forgotten, and I'm going to keep it that way (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Now, you know if I had someone come over to fix the fan, I would have been out a ton of money when there actually wasn't anything wrong. So the ass pain was definitely worth it.

I can't help but wonder why this fan, in 16 years, just now decided to shift and get stuck, especially when everything was tight. If I will be charged a restocking fee for this new fan, I might hang onto it in case it does fail in the future. The night it got stuck, it must have been smoking hot. I'm surprised it didn't burn up.

So, lesson learned, if you find you all of a sudden don't have air coming out of the vents, it might be a free fix.

Steve91T View Member Profile	Dec 6 2013, 03:47 PM Post #1
Experienced Member Group: Advanced Members Posts: 2,038 Joined: 3-March 10 From: Huntersville, NC Member No.: 9,105	Not work on my car like I planned! Instead I was in the attic doing this... (IMG:http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v199/Steve91T/95841BF2-3254-44EF-B1D5-B0D0AF212799.jpg) Not fun! My wife and myself woke up at 3 am the other night because it was hot and stuffy in the house. My pregnant wife was not happy. Outside it was 60 degrees with 100% humidity. We had no airflow from the vents. I spent about 45 minutes messing with the thermostat and found that the fan wasn't working. The next day I called an HVAC guy and he said it could be the fan motor itself, or the circuit board. He quoted me between $600 and $800. No thank you. I called up my single buddy who's always willing to help, we poured a beer and climbed into the attic. Neither one of us had a clue as to what we were doing. We did find that fan would hum when turned on. OK good, it's not electrical. We get to the fan and try to turn it by hand and it would turn, but only with a lot of effort. I guess that means the bearings locked up. The unit is 16 years old and its happened to a lot of my neighbors. I call up my neighbor who owns an HVAC company, gave him some part numbers, and 2 hrs and $330, I had a brand new OEM fan in my hands. So, back into the attic I go. The fan... (IMG:http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v199/Steve91T/9696C302-81FE-42BD-8E04-12CDB2CCD008.jpg) (IMG:http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v199/Steve91T/146B455B-F632-40A3-8361-9B3A062E5321.jpg) The bottom of the fan. All I had to do was remove the lock bolt and pull the fan motor out of the fan itself. (IMG:http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v199/Steve91T/27333491-6634-4586-9901-93479451475D.jpg) This is where things get interesting. The fan shaft was stuck on the fan. I took a dead blow hammer and went to town. It was really stuck, but I managed to get it to move about 3/4". Then all of a sudden it would spin freely. WTF. It was fine. So I put it back together, yell to my wife to turn it on and all is well. All button up. (IMG:http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v199/Steve91T/60E60099-3134-4D19-B019-F00053EE1EEF.jpg) Sitting on plastic bins full of forgotten Christmas decorations wasn't fun. And by forgotten, I mean my wife has forgotten, and I'm going to keep it that way (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) Now, you know if I had someone come over to fix the fan, I would have been out a ton of money when there actually wasn't anything wrong. So the ass pain was definitely worth it. I can't help but wonder why this fan, in 16 years, just now decided to shift and get stuck, especially when everything was tight. If I will be charged a restocking fee for this new fan, I might hang onto it in case it does fail in the future. The night it got stuck, it must have been smoking hot. I'm surprised it didn't burn up. So, lesson learned, if you find you all of a sudden don't have air coming out of the vents, it might be a free fix.