Leaves in fan motor

Maintenance/Repairs
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1

I have a 2004 Buick LeSabre, which I bought new. After about 3000 miles I noticed the AC fan/blower was really loud. I took it to the dealer and he showed me a bunch of leaves he said he took out of the blower. They were pretty much intact. There was no charge, and asked me if I parked under a tree, which I do. When it happened a second time he said it was not their responsibility and that parking under a tree is considered abuse of the car. For about $360 they could rig up some kind of net or strainer to prevent this. I declined and said it sounds like a faulty design and they should correct it, which they wouldn’t do. I took it to another GM dealer and he said if that was done the AC wouldn’t work properly and it would overheat the fan motor. My son thinks I need to do something about it but I don’t know what to do. It is quite loud, so we have to either turn the AC up or the radio down or both. Can you help me?

2

You and I have different opinions about what constitutes a design flaw. Regardless, what you need to do is remove the cover from the cowl and affix a piece of window screen over the inlet snorkel. No big deal. It’s not going to affect your A/C performance one iota.

However, you still will need to clean the leaves off the car if they start to collect in the cowl area. You should be doing this now. They will block off the inlet and collect moisture leading to rust, mold and other assorted nastiness. Pop your hood occasionally and remove the debris that is building up. It’s normal maintenance, especially for under tree parking people…

3

This is not a design flaw and can be a common occurrence on any vehicle depending on where they’re parked.

The dealer is right and you’re wrong, like it or not.
Find another parking spot or trim the tree back - or down.

4 
It is a common problem.   You can clean them out yourself, make or have someone add some sort of screen to reduce the problem, or don't park under trees.
5

Thank you very much. This is very helpful

6

Thank you for replying. It is encouraging to know it is not a design flaw. I love my car.

7

Thanks for the info. I will clean them out and I appreciate you answering me.

8

A design Flaw??? WOW…Like to see if that actually flys.

Chryco over 20 YEARS never had inner fender wells on their Dart/Scamp/Volare’ lines and it caused their cars to rust out prematurely. I consider that a design flaw…But Chryco never did. GM doesn’t consider their intake manifold problem a design flaw either.