Bird behind the glove box

[rots]

Hello,
My '05 SS has developed a chirping noise (much like a bird) in the heater blower.
From the Dutch Saab forums, I gather this is a sign that the blower is likely to fail soon, although I will try to lubricate the axle by removing the pollen filter to see if that helps, or possibly even remove the part completely and clean it.

Since it is an '05 model, it likely does not have the water barrier installed, so if it comes to replacing the blower, I would like to install the water barrier also.

Any recommendations for finding these parts in Espoo? I don't mind a second hand water barrier, but a new fan would be nice. I've seen dealer quotes of €320 for the blower, though it's available for €100 or so via some (Dutch/US) webshops that specialise in e.g. Opel.

Kiitos!

Edwin

[Sportti]

New blower from Motonet 129,90€ (fits only, if you have automatic-ac)

http://www.motonet.fi/motonet/tuotteet/131029/2

[rots]

New blower from Motonet 129,90€ (fits only, if you have automatic-ac)

http://www.motonet.fi/motonet/tuotteet/131029/2

Perfect - kiitos! Motonet now bookmarked for future use

Any suggestions for second-hand parts like a scrapyard or one of these sites that sends a parts query to different scrap yards? I want to fit the water barrier if I can get it.

I spent the best part of an hour pulling the old fan out today. A pretty tedious task, largely because two of the seven screws holding it in place don't provide very easy access to my Torx wrenches.

In any case, it's showing some corrosion on the bottom, and doesn't turn very easily at all. I've applied some grease cleaner to get rid of any gummed-up lubricant, and relubricated using a MoS2 lubricant I found at Bauhaus (is WD-40 available in Finland?) and will refit the thing tomorrow. I hope it will either behave better or fail completely very soon: we are planning a trip from Espoo to Sodankyla mid-October and the prospect of a heater failure on the way is a little worrying...

[toyman]

Hi. I had the same thing last spring, but the blower stopped completely. You can get wd-40 from motonet, or just about every other shop.

You can search scrap parts from http://avk.fi/

Hope this helps.

[rots]

You can search scrap parts from http://avk.fi/

Excellent - another bookmark - thanks! I've contacted them about the water guard - the fan was definitely showing some signs of water damage.

I reinstalled the blower yesterday and the squeak is gone. Of course, the interior was a little smelly (the lubricant) but that has cleared up nicely. Now we wait and see if it runs smoothly this week.

One interesting note: the plastic housing that contains the fan has a hole with a rubber plug facing the cabin near the bottom. Since the fan bearings at the bottom are quite hard to get to without disassembling the whole thing, this strikes me as a perfect lubrication point.

The fan's housing is all you can see if you pull out the plug, but if you have a flexible hose on your lubricant, you might be able to lubricate the bearing from that plug. Saves rather a lot of effort...