Hi! I have experienced problems with the heater on my -97 850 during this winter. It started with squeaky noises on and off (they often come on when turning) from the passenger side, getting worse gradually, and especially bad when doing longer trips. At a couple of occasions, the fan appeared to have seized completely at the end of a trip, in such way that when restarting the car the fan would not start at all and some flashing error warning came up on the ECC panel. Both times the fan restarted by itself after 1) taking out and reinserting the fuse, or 2) just inspection of the heater/fan assembly, with my hands. I have not yet tried to take out the motor for a more thorough inspection, but I have searched this forum and also localized the relevant pages on Bay 13 where this operation is described. The squeaky noise ("mad bird in the dash")continues though. And the fan works fine, blowing air at all speeds when not seized.

My conclusion according to the experienced symptoms and what I found on this forum, is that the blower motor is heading south and can die any moment from now. I went this morning to the Volvo dealer, who not only asks a ridiculous price for the part (eqv to 500US$+ which I still would accept to pay because I need heat in this freezing country), but is also out on stock until March! Believe that.

So what do I do? It appears that a few of you have made some experience about greasing the bearings of this fan motor to make it go silent and last longer. How efficient is it? What oil/grease to use; WD40 or some thicker oil?

Then a last issue which came as an advice from a Volvo mechanic this morning when I tried to buy a new fan motor: He claimed that a clogged airfilter for the ECC could be the reason for a squeaky fan. Anyone also experienced this?

I am all ears for your advices!

Br, Ola, Lier, Norway
-97 850
-58 544