Mercedes-Benz Forum banner

whining noise from blower motor-2003 E500

19K views 33 replies 12 participants last post by  Noodles 
#1 ·
Hello,

I have a whining noise that seem to come on when I turn on the blower motor
for the heating & cooling. It seem to change pitch with throttle acceleration, and goes away when I turn off the fan. Do I need a new blower motor?

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks !

art
 
#3 ·
Hi Noodles,
I would say it's more a whine than a whistle. The most notable characteristic is that it changes in pitch with the engine speed (throttle acceleration). I will try to look into the
duct/vent issue.
Thanks for taking the time to help me out, Noodles.

Art
 
#4 ·
When you say the motor I assume you mean the blower motor.
There is a good chance that if it is original it could be going bad.
Behr supplied the unit and bearings/bushings on the spindle start
to make noise. Most people hear it start as a chirping squeal type
of noise which is what mine did.
If you isolate it to the blower and the blower is clean the replacement is the best option.
The newer fan from Behr is an improved design. In this cas searching net for the real Behr
fan will be a better price than parts.com. They can be had as low as low as about $140.
Do not ge the TYC brand or any other brand. They are all junk.
OEM part number for reference 2118300908.
Check out this one. Nice price.
Mercedes E500 Blower Motor - Blower Motors - Behr - 2005 2004 2003 2006 05 04 03 06 - PartsGeek.com
 
#6 ·
Re: Whining noise from blower motor use

Hey raddoc888,

Did replacing your blower fan work? I have the same problem in my 2003 E320. Whining noise with fan and a/c use that increases and decreases when I accelerate / decelerate. I had the blower fan replaced with an OEM part about 4 years ago.

Other ideas also appreciated.

Thanks!
 
#8 ·
  • Like
Reactions: ptkacik
#11 ·
Thanks a lot stinggray71 for your reply.
the problem I have is whining noise with fan and a/c use that increases and decreases when I accelerate / decelerate, was this your problem? or you had a whistling noise coming from the air vents?
I go the instructions and ready to buy a new blower, however I just want to make sure that the whining noise that increases with the acceleration is coming from blower fan and not from other things like A/C pulley or any other pulley. The whining noise is happening in all climate modes i.e. A/C, heater and fan only(A/C Off) modes.
 
#13 ·
I go the instructions and ready to buy a new blower, however I just want to make sure that the whining noise that increases with the acceleration is coming from blower fan and not from other things like A/C pulley or any other pulley. The whining noise is happening in all climate modes i.e. A/C, heater and fan only(A/C Off) modes.
What happen if climate control is turned off. Any whining noise?
 
#12 ·
The climate control blower motor does not increase/decrease with acceleration. The speed/noise only increased when changing the fan speed on the interior climate control panel.
Is your noise coming from the cabin or from the engine compartment? If you find that it is in the engine compartment, then it may be a pulley or alternator.
I have had both of those issues on our 2006 Mercedes too. I had to replace the engine pulleys on my E350 and I had bad alternator bearings on my C280 and replaced the alternator that was making a loud noise.
 
#15 ·
I found difficulty to determine if the noise is from the cabin or the engine compartment. I can hear the whining noise inside the cabin when I open the climate unit and it is the same whatever the fan speed, the only thing i notice is that it increase when I accelerate and decreases when I decelerate.
For the Engine compartment, I opened it and asked someone to press the accelerator pedal and to turn the climate unit on and off frequently to hear if there will be any extra noise when it is going on but I didn't mange to hear something different.
 
#16 ·
I just replaced my blower unit a month ago. The first thing I would check is to take off the cabin air filter and (with the ignition off) see if you can freely spin the fan or if there is resistance. The bearings went out on mine and froze up.

It's a fairly easy job.
 
#23 ·
You have a bad blower motor fan, replace it and your problem will be solved.
This is a common issue with the 211's
Mine did change pitch with RPM but that was due to a tired battery and the alternator pumping more amps at higher rpm, thus increasing the fan speed.
Noodles has posted diagnosis, part numbers and sources numerous times, do a search in the 211 forum and you'll find a wealth of info.
Ditto for the variable displacement compressor, no clutches on this one.
 
#25 ·
There is plenty of evidence that it is, some of his observations conflict each other, also, did you know that a squeal is heard when you turn a curve? Mine did that and the culprit was the fan blower motor, the gyroscopical forces loaded the sleeve bearing and it squealed. He couldn't hear the noise when he opened the hood and the noise goes away when he turns off the HVAC system = fan blower motor
 
#26 ·
After re-reading, it does appear that some of these observations are conflicting.
If the sound is coming from the cabin, then I agree,
if HVAC=OFF and Squeal=GONE then probably your climate control blower motor.

The sound on my blower motor started as more of a "chirp". It would change frequency as I increased or decreased the speed of the HVAC fan.
 
#27 ·
Thanks all for your replies and care and sorry for not replying for a while as the car had an accident and it was in the panel shop.

After visiting several mechanics (some of them claims that they are MB specialists which was not really the case), they have done some tests including replacing the fan blower motor which didn't fix the problem, the issue was fixed by doing evacuating, recharging & oiling to the system.

The last MB specialist who checked the car (he was really good) told me that the gas was low (not to the extent to make it not working) but there was air in the system which makes this noise.

I've tested the car and it was much better after doing the job, however sometimes I hear the same noise happening but with lower tone and for few seconds only, so I can say it is 80% fixed. I told the mechanic about this and he mentioned that using the A/C with little gas for a while may have affected the compressor and if the problem get worse then the only fix will be to replace the whole A/C compressor.

For now the car is quiet and the A/C becomes much better.

Thanks all for your help.
 
#28 ·
There is no oiling system to the blower motor. That is a shop you want to never visit again.

Blower fan noise on most W211s has been a common issue. About $130-150 for a genuine Behr fan and about 20 minutes of time and the noise is gone. I changed mine about 5 years ago and it has been noise free.
 
#29 ·
I mean compressor oil , so what he has done to fix the problem is that he did a full evacuation to the system, recharge it according to the manufacture specification and add A/C compressor oil as he mentioned it was low.

A previous mechanic changed the blower fan but it didn't fix the noise so he returned it back to the original one.
 
#30 ·
I am sorry, I misunderstood.
They can get noisy. It has been 34º C here and when the car has been in the sun the radiator fan runs like a turbine. It has done that since I have owned it and I have heard other W211s do it. It is so loud people look at the car when it starts up. A few minutes later the fan slows down and does not sound like a Hoover.
 
#33 ·
Thanks for clarifying. The original posts didn't seem to be sure which way it was headed. The symptoms described seemed identical to what I experienced from the blower motor regulator.

Actually the original poster stated that the sound went away when the ventilation was off? Definitely the same as mine.

I guess I was answering the original poster.
 
#34 ·
Not sure how it changed to a cooling fan thread, but you are right it did start as a blower motor thread.

The W210s used a different blower motor. The W211s had issues with the blower motor. Many members have had them start squealing and the permanent fix is replacing them which is a 15 minute job.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top