HVAC blower motor failed on my '13 FocuST

"BREADwagon" (BREADwagon)
08/28/2016 at 11:44 • Filed to: None

I don’t get it. How can a blower motor fail on a modern car that’s less than than 4 years old & with less than 35k miles?

My Focus ST was built in 2012, and I took delivery in 2013. Last weekend, I clicked the auto temp to a nice 71 degrees.....then the whole car started to violently vibrate.

I was actually alarmed that maybe a belt was thrown or something catastrophic had just occurred in the motor...but then I realized it was coming from the dash. I changed the fan speed and the vibration changed its intensity.

How can a blower motor in a modern car just grenade like that? The original blower motor in my ‘92 miata is still going strong! Add to the fact that the Miata’s blower motor can be taken out in less than 10 minutes with 5 easily accessible bolts (2 to remove the glove box cover, and 3 for the blower itself), while the focus requires removing a couple of panels, disconnecting the body control module with its EIGHT wiring harness connectors, then threading a 12+ inch extension through the back of the dash to get to a couple of bolts....then MAYBE having to unbolt the gas pedal......

UNACCEPTABLE!!!!

Edit: I’ve had the car for just over 3 years, so the warranty is done. It failed a little over a week after my 3 year anniversary with the car LOL

UPDATE !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!

DISCUSSION (36)

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > BREADwagon
08/28/2016 at 11:47

Pretty infuriating.

XJDano > BREADwagon
08/28/2016 at 11:52

Not cool.

Steve is equipped with Electronic Fool Injection > BREADwagon
08/28/2016 at 11:57

Call Ford

Have them pick up the car and deliver a loaner

Have it replaced under warranty

relax. Shit happens.

Urambo Tauro > BREADwagon
08/28/2016 at 11:58

Can’t make things robust when you’re desperately trying to save weight AND cost.

But to be fair, is there any chance that a mouse or something got caught up in there and caused it to fail?

Bengal55 > BREADwagon
08/28/2016 at 11:59

Not all parts are created equal, it may have just been a bad one off the line. It happens in all fields, you have a warranty, it should be covered.

daender > BREADwagon
08/28/2016 at 11:59

This is what warranties are for, please chill.

BREADwagon > Steve is equipped with Electronic Fool Injection
08/28/2016 at 12:01

My car’s out of warranty. I’ve had 2 very negative experiences with the Ford dealer by me, and I don’t feel like driving 45 mins to the next closest one when I’d do the work myself for less.

BREADwagon > Urambo Tauro
08/28/2016 at 12:03

I have a feeling in this case, it’s more about cost than weight.

Good point about the mouse, I didn’t even think of that. I ordered the new part, should be in by next weekend. I’ll see what’s in there and report back.

BREADwagon > daender
08/28/2016 at 12:03

Can’t chill, wont chill.

(my warranty is over)

PS9 > BREADwagon
08/28/2016 at 12:04

How can a blower motor fail on a modern car that’s less than than 4 years old & with less than 35k miles?

Because they aren’t made by Hephaestus.

daender > BREADwagon
08/28/2016 at 12:10

...Oh...oh my.

RIP: wallet

BREADwagon > PS9
08/28/2016 at 12:10

As I swap out the part, I’m going to write ‘Amphigúeis’ on it.

PS9 > BREADwagon
08/28/2016 at 12:11

SR20 or it didn’t happen.

Dave the car guy , still here > BREADwagon
08/28/2016 at 12:13

Planned obsolescence. Very few things are built to last these days.

As for the repair time, nobody cares anymore if its easy to do certain repairs. Just the way it is. My daughters blower resistor on her Nissan went out . The factory manual said I had to remove glovebox and other parts to do the job. I laid on my back and it was right there. Took 10 minutes. What I figured on that was they wanted a way to suck some money out of the average consumer. I can see it was where they get 2 hrs of labor expense but the mechanic can do it in record time. Manufacturers all seem to be really fucked up these days in one way or another. Repairs either require taking half the car apart or it doesn’t, but they charge like it does either way. Gotta pay for all the recalls somehow.

Opposite Locksmith > BREADwagon
08/28/2016 at 12:13

I don’t know why people are telling you to chill this is fucked up

Also my blower motor in my 1997 montero still blows strong

Urambo Tauro > Dave the car guy , still here
08/28/2016 at 12:22

I’m not sure that they’re purposefully trying to make things difficult. A lot of access problems seem to have come from just trying to make things easier/cheaper/faster on the assembly line. They don’t care if a component is easy to get to, or hiding behind 2 hours of dashboard removal, because they’ll just install it before installing the dash anyway.

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > Opposite Locksmith
08/28/2016 at 12:28

Blower on my 80 pickup also still works. Only two setting work, but I’ll take it.

JQJ213- Now With An Extra Cylinder! > BREADwagon
08/28/2016 at 12:29

Because Ford

Kinja'd!!!

I drive a brand new Lincoln MKZ for work. The windshield washer fluid doesn’t spray. Backup camera doesn’t work 95% of the time. SYNC loses Bluetooth virtually every drive. And this door fitment somehow got past quality control.

LongbowMkII > Steve is equipped with Electronic Fool Injection
08/28/2016 at 12:41

Nah.

Supreme Chancellor and Glorious Leader SaveTheIntegras > JQJ213- Now With An Extra Cylinder!
08/28/2016 at 12:48

dat fitment

CodyVella > BREADwagon
08/28/2016 at 13:00

Blower motor on my ‘02 Xterra still cranks, mind you I had to replace the resistor pack for $25 and two screws.

But, the blower motor on one of the ‘14 Silverados at work did recently crap out.

Frenchlicker > BREADwagon
08/28/2016 at 13:06

I would chock it up to the fact 100% of products can't be 100% quality. Law of large numbers.

nFamousCJ - Keeper of Stringbean, Gengars and a Deezul > BREADwagon
08/28/2016 at 13:09

BREADwagon > nFamousCJ - Keeper of Stringbean, Gengars and a Deezul
08/28/2016 at 13:15

I’m going to play this on infinite repeat until my ears bleed.

FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com > JQJ213- Now With An Extra Cylinder!
08/28/2016 at 14:07

The fitment and panel gaps on new Lincolns is appalling. I don’t think I’ve seen an MKC clamshell tailgate that fits even close to correctly. (Meanwhile Audi Q3's seem to have no issue with a similar design.) And the LED tail lights on the rest of the new models don’t seem to line up across the trunk/hatch gaps.

PS9 > JQJ213- Now With An Extra Cylinder!
08/28/2016 at 14:27

Are you fucking kidding with that? My older-than-the-Betrayal-of-Emporer-Ceaser Corolla that too, but that was developed over years of wear and tear. What the fuck, Ford!

Ssfancyfresh > BREADwagon
08/28/2016 at 14:55

Is it possible something fell down the vent into the blower motor?

This happened in my TT. A little piece of trim from the cowl fell into the motor housing. Pulled the motor out, removed the trim piece and put it all back. Pretty easy

boxrocket > BREADwagon
08/28/2016 at 16:37

If you are really that close to the 3-year milestone, Ford might still cover it, though the dealership might have to submit an exception request to corporate. I don’t see many fans fail themselves (and not that early), failure tends to come from FOD, a.k.a. Foreign Object Damage. Loose trash, animal hair/fur, paper clips and coins dropped down a vent, etc.

boxrocket > JQJ213- Now With An Extra Cylinder!
08/28/2016 at 16:41

Have you brought it to the dealer’s attention yet? That way they can report it up the chain and have the factory prevent it from happening.

JQJ213- Now With An Extra Cylinder! > boxrocket
08/28/2016 at 16:58

Yup. First day I started.

His exact words?

“Good thing it’s our courtesy shuttle and not a customer car"

JQJ213- Now With An Extra Cylinder! > FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com
08/28/2016 at 17:00

One thing I’ve realized quickly between working at a dealer and driving various models is that they are good cars and people, but don’t have any chance of competing with Audi or BMW. Everything seems so far behind.

And paint quality is usually piss poor too. We have to take a lot of brand new cars over to body shop to try and correct blemishes and over spray

Dave the car guy , still here > Urambo Tauro
08/28/2016 at 21:57

Well, it might not be on purpose but it seems like it at times. I work in a dealership and see things like the Lumina Z-34 years ago that had an alternator replacement time of about 4 hours by GM’s manual. Our techs figured out that if you loosened the engine cradle you could drop the alternator from the bottom in less than half the time. The guys in the shop constantly are finding ways of doing the job quicker.

BREADwagon > Urambo Tauro
09/06/2016 at 10:53

It was filled with fluff. It looks like a mouse or something was making a pretty sweet living space.

However, there’s no ‘chicken wire’ at the cowl to prevent this sort of thing from happening...so I’m still angry!

Urambo Tauro > BREADwagon
09/06/2016 at 11:03

Interesting. So did the fluff just throw the fan out of balance until you could clean it out, or did it actually damage the component?

Either way, it’s frustrating to think that a cheap little screen could have prevented this...

BREADwagon > Urambo Tauro
09/06/2016 at 11:40

The fan looked okay when I took it out. It had ever so slightly more play than the new component, so I ended up using the new part anyway since I had it.

BREADwagon > PS9
09/06/2016 at 13:07

I had all the intentions of writing it on it, but then I was so filled with rage, I just wanted to finish the job. Next one, I guess!