low blower motor volume

[MagicBox]

Low blower motor air volume solved.

I was barely getting any air flow from the dash vents on my 2012 Roadtrek 190. I could hear the fan and all the speeds seemed to work.

I removed the blower motor which is easily accessed from under the hood. With the fan out I cleaned out some leaves and mounted the fan backwards (facing out) to watch the fan run through all the speeds. Fan spun fine with abnormal noise. Did not find any significant blockage or other issue.

This vehicle does not have a cabin air filter, which when clogged can affect air flow on vehicles that have them.

After the fan inspection I removed the passenger side lower dash panel and pulled back the carpet a bit to look for any stray vacuum lines or obvious issues. There are of course some blend door actuators buried in there but they are above my skill level. Did not hear any vacuum leaks or see any obvious issues in this area.

After searching the internet for a possible remedy I found a Chevy truck forum that mentioned a vacuum pod under the hood that might be the culprit.
This baseball size vacuum pod lives under the battery tray (6.0 engine) below the positive terminal. The vacuum line comes out of the firewall on the passenger side and goes to this pod. My hose was disconnected and the end was deteriorated. I cut of a few inches and spliced on some new vacuum hose, reconnected it the the pod and added a zip tie at the end for good measure.

My dash fan air volume is restored, I actually fixed something! With the vacuum pressure restored, the blend door actuator(s) are able to work and open the various blend doors. When you disconnect the positive cable it can hang down on (and eventually disconnect) this vacuum hose. The battery gasses are probably deteriorating it as well.

How about that long winded explanation for a 5 minute vacuum hose repair?
As Richard Gere said in An Officer And A Gentleman: "I aint got no where else to go!"

 

[rowiebowie]

Satisfying, isn't it, when persistence pays off. Congrats.

I accidentally pulled my line off when running hoses with my fingers checking for the condition of the rubber. I didn't even realize it had happened at the time. That's how easy it pulled loose. It didn't affect blower speed, but instead the dash air would get re-directed under acceleration and higher engine speeds.

Since the recent check of the vacuum line was the only thing I'd done under the hood (previously the dash air was fine) it was the first thing that popped into my mind. Easy to reattach, but in my opinion much too easy to remove. Perhaps the rubber is getting old and lost its' elasticity, so if it happens again I'll be replacing the line.

And leaf clean-out is on my list of "to-do's" as I occasionally hear the fan blades brushing something. Thanks to booster and others who've described the process, its not too hard to do. But in the meantime I've tried to close the gap at the bottom of the windshield to prevent further intrusion.