Where is the front blower motor?

[Heat]

'09 Mazda5 Sport

Long story short - I apparently had a mouse living in my cabin filter compartment who chewed a hole through the cabin filter. Some debris from the mouse's nest blew into the blower motor jamming it.

All I knew was that my blower motor had stopped and that my Mazda5 was under warranty. Damage from mice are not covered by the warranty, I'm on the hook for 3.5 hours of labor plus $32.50 for a new cabin filter: $347.50 total.

Anyway, where is the front blower motor so that if something goes wrong in the future I can get to it / fix it myself? There's no way I'm taking it back at those rates.

Then there's the matter of book rates - I dropped off the Mazda5 at 8:15 am. At 10:15 I was called and told what the problem was. I'm assuming that they had cleaned everything out by that point to make sure it was functioning correctly - but I'm being charged for 3.5 hours of labor. Grrrrr....

 

[Heat]

OK, found it (it's part #4 on the attached diagram).

The next question is how do I get to it, if I have to get to it in the future? Do I have to remove the radio / center dash then go straight back?

And I'm still upset about the number of hours - there is no way that this is a 3.5 hour job.

Edit: I talked with the service representative, he said that the bulk of the 3.5 hours was for taking the duct work out to get debris out and that the pollen filter (cabin filter) was a 15 minute job.

 

[flcruising]

Sounds like you had a similar experience as myself. Here's what I went through to clean my blower wheel - http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/show...AC-blower-wheel-(squirrel-cage)&daysprune=365

As for replacing the motor, it's at the top of the dash above the gas pedal and I believe the majority of the dash has to come out to get it, but I haven't looked up there to see if it can be reached from below. I've pulled a dash to replace a heater core in a Chevy before, and if you're mechanically inclined, it's not as difficult as it sounds. Most everything is plug-and-play and made for easy assembly-line installation, so I couldn't imagine this vehicle being that bad...?

 

[Heat]

Interesting approach, and it looks like an effective fix.

I talked to the mechanics, they had me somewhat convinced that it could take them 3.5 hours to get to the blower motor from the front, as well as clean out some duct work, until one mechanic added how tricky it was to get to the cabin filter.

What is it, three screws and fifteen minutes to replace the cabin filter?

Anyway, if anybody's blower motor stops working, check it out from the front as show in flcruising's post. You can see if there is junk in it or not. I was charged $350 to clean it, as well as the cabin filter (a $32 part). I'm never returning to that dealership unless I know for certain that it is a warrantied item.

By the way, on mine, they said the mouse had chewed through the cabin filter but I don't know if I believe them. The mice coming through the cowl like they did for flcruising makes more sense to me.

 

[Heat]

Ha! Tonight somebody called on behalf of the dealership for feedback on my latest service visit. I ripped into the service department, saying how they inflated the number of hours needed for the job, did most of the work before determining that it was not covered by warranty, etc. Of course nothing will be done, but I feel better.

And I'm wondering if there is a problem that is letting the mice get into the blower motor? I've never heard of this problem, before the Mazda5.

 

[jd.anderson]

Mouse???

I have a similar experience as of two weeks ago. My wife's front blower stopped working and I tore in to the dash to see why. I found that the blower motor was full of what appeared to be kleenex or a similar paper material. My father said he thought a mouse as well, but I don't believe it. My wife keeps her glove compartment shoved so full of crap, that I think something got sucked into the motor while she had the AC set to recirculate the air in the car. I could be wrong, but I dont' believe that I had a mouse living in my car and the only sign of it is a shredded filter/kleenex. I haven't taken the car into the dealer yet, but I'm hoping my friend that works there as the service manager can help us out a little bit. I seriously doubt that the warranty covers any of the expense.
Any chance you had a similar thing happen and it wasn't a mouse?? Not that a mouse wouldn't be happy in my wife's car, the kids do keep it full of crumbs from all sorts of treats...hmmmm. Maybe it was a mouse, but I just don't buy it!

'09 Mazda5 Sport

Long story short - I apparently had a mouse living in my cabin filter compartment who chewed a hole through the cabin filter. Some debris from the mouse's nest blew into the blower motor jamming it.

 

[EastCanMan]

This is old but applicable so everyone should consider putting a fine mesh of steel at the intake port to keep mice, squirrels, etc out. Not sure how mice get into a cars dash but they sure like chewing up wires.

You have to remove the brake pedal and the gas pedal to get at the blower motor in Mazda 5, assume 3 is the same. It does look like the radio section comes out to do it but apparently not.