My blower motor was out of balance. It was getting pretty loud, and there wasn't much air flow. However, I couldn't see where it was located. Google-fu didn't turn up anything - 1998 and older Silverados have theirs mounted on the firewall. My 2000 obviously didn't. Google did let me know that 1999 - 2003 require the same motor and squirrel cage. OK fine, just let me know how to get the thing out. No such luck
All my mechanic buddies had no idea, either. So I called the dealership in Garden City - you might as well know who, as you will see. The guy who answered the phone told me it was underneath the instrument panel, and went through some of the procedures - I was to take out the pillar trim, the surround around the instrument panel, and so on. I fired up the fan, and it was definitely on the right side - not the left.
These trucks also have cabin air filters, which I had changed before. There is a large tray underneath the dash on the passenger side that covers the bottom of the HVAC system. Here is the procedure to remove the fan motor and change the filter.
You need a 7mm socket, a 6mm socket, and I assume a 5mm socket - which I nor any of my trusted associates had. A 7/32 will work. A mechanics mirror is useful here as well. I also shut off the passenger airbag - who knows what could happen with my meaty paws rooting around the wiring under the dash! There are three 7mm screws that hold the tray in place. Remove the right and center screws, and just loosen the left one. If you take it out, good luck getting it back in. The tray can be lowered and rotated out of the way. The fan motor is to the far right - it is above a plastic cup with two 6mm screws. Good luck with the back one. The air at the shop was blue before I got the damn thing out. The cup is lined with foam, apparently for noise reduction. It didn't get put back on. After you remove the cup, you might notice there are no screws holding the motor in place. There is a two wire lead and quick connector into the motor, but no screws. A call to the Dodge City dealership netted me the information that there was a tab that needed to be loosened, and the fan motor could be rotated for removal. This is where the mirror is damn handy - you can actually see what you are looking for. This was also the correct procedure - kudos to Magouirk Chevrolet's service guy.
Apparently I have a mouse in the Poor Farm Mobile. The squirrel cage was full of cigarette butts, shredded cigarette butts, and shredded paper towels. After it was finally cleared of all the trash, the motor proved to be just fine. Next - the filter. To the left of the motor, next to a step to a larger partition is an L shaped latch - on one end is a 5mm screw, the other is a locking tab. Remove the screw, the latch rotates out of the way, and pull the filter out. I ran the fan for a bit to clear out any trash before installing the new filter. It should have a arrow pointing towards the air flow, in this case it should be pointing to the left. Push the filter in, and replace the latch and screw. Then, swing the tray back over, replace the two screws, and tighten all three. Ok, done.
Now I'll tell you what not to do. Removing the glove box does no good what so ever. Okay, fine, don't listen to me, just try to take it out. Yeah, see that little rubber tab to the right? The one that catches the glove box? Flip it out of the way, and the glove box flips over, dumping the contents on the passenger floorboard. Okay, you say, but it's on a hinge! See the three screws? So don't listen to me, take the damn things out. The hinge seems to be stuck. Wait - it's pop riveted to the trim piece! So, let's try to take the trim piece around the glove box out! Okay, see the two screws to the right, and the one above the latch? Yeah, get those. Now you have a stressed trim piece probably costing a couple hundred bucks - there is the wire to the glove box light, and the chunk o' plastic is still firmly attached to the dash on the left and probably to the center console as well.
I was considering professional help at this point - I had found the fan, but had no idea how to get it out. None of my professional advisers had any ideas, either. As I said before, Magouirk's saved my hiney. I was pretty frustrated that something seemingly so simple was turning into a cluster.
The tab on the motor broke during removal, too. Since getting the motor to rotate to the proper spot for removal is pretty hard, I'm not going to lose sleep. If it falls out, I'll buy a new one and a new squirrel cage - the new one should have a new tab.
I'm just hoping that this might help someone out someday - as many Chevys that are out there, someone is going to have similar problems and be unable to find anything on the web. Hopefully the future audience finds this before going on a complete teardown of the interior, like I was. So here it is, Google! Note, the pic isn't of my truck, but it's pretty close.
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