Heat not so hot after blower fan replacement?

[Lifeisabeach]

Hey guys, I had to replace the blower fan motor yesterday in my 2010 Ford Edge. The old one had been making a nasty noise for a few days so I did the swap out myself and it went very well. I hear it spinning and ramping up as I turn the fan speed up on the console. It sounds a whole lot better and I'm confident otherwise that it's seated properly. Today I was out driving and I feel like it's not blowing out air quite as warm or as fast at top speed as the old fan, but the weather is pretty mild today compared to the past few days and even this morning, so I'm not sure if my perception is skewed. Additionally, the fan that came out was an aftermarket one that I picked up from CarQuest about 7 years ago and installed myself, but this time I went with a Motorcraft. So... I'm not sure if the difference I perceive is due to the product change. I can say that the one I removed has always made a very slight rasping noise (brushes inside motor?), as did the one that it replaced 7 years ago, so I had blown it off at the time. The new one does not make that slight rasping noise, which is what I would have expected.

 

So... question is if I should be looking at something else in the chain here? I know there's a blower motor resistor in particular that I might need to look at, but I don't know if that would be responsible for what I'm perceiving. Any thoughts/advice?

 

As a side note, I had also been experiencing a high pitched whistling-like noise for the past few months that wasn't resolved by replacing the blower fan. That particular noise turned out to be from the felt seal on the cabin air filter cover that was falling apart and had gaps in it. I scraped that all off; added some foam stripping that I had on hand, and problem solved!

Edited December 29, 2022 by Lifeisabeach

[Lifeisabeach]

Update: all is well. Temps have dropped back down the past week and it definitely was a "perception" problem. I do think it blows slightly less warm than the old one, but I think that's easily chalked up to being a change from an aftermarket brand to a Motorcraft. I honestly can't get over how much quieter the Motorcraft one is compared to the previous aftermarket one that was in, even before it went bad on me. Lesson learned: stick with Motorcraft.