Blower Motor Tale...

After almost 260,000 miles I finally gave up on factory heating A/C blower motor in my 2006.5 A5. I had probably removed, lubed, and replaced my original motor half a dozen times which would quiet it for a while, but the gap between the needed lube was getting shorter. I knew it was probably a risk but I purchased a VDO PM9291 as a replacement. Now less than 90 days of use this fan it also developed a mild squeal especially on colder mornings. I think the cost with shipping and tax was about $73.00. It appears I can get a warranty replacement if I buy a new one and then ship the VDO back for credit. For now, I am leaning toward taking out the VDO and attempting to lube the motor and see how that might work.



Has anyone had good luck with VDO blower motors? Other than OEM are their any other manufactures you have had good luck with?

I never turn my factory OEM blower to the off position and it has lasted so far, 188K miles with no issues. My belief is that turning the fan completely off shortens the fans life because it gives corrosion a better chance to set in.

Sorry I can't help your situation. I would try like you said, but never turn the fan switch to off and see if the VDO does last longer that way. Sure seems to work for my factory fan.

Ol'Rattler said:

I never turn my factory OEM blower to the off position and it has lasted so far, 188K miles with no issues. My belief is that turning the fan completely off shortens the fans life because it gives corrosion a better chance to set in.

Sorry I can't help your situation. I would try like you said, but never turn the fan switch to off and see if the VDO does last longer that way. Sure seems to work for my factory fan.

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Thanks Ol'Rattler for your input. I agree about not turning the fan off and that is the case in this Jetta. I think my original fan was fine until somewhere around 210,000 miles. After that, I was able to nurse it a long with additional bearing oil until recently when I put the new VDO in. I think I am going to try the same treatment on the new VDO.

If the original lasted 200k miles, I'd replace it with another one of those. It'll have the name on it somewhere, likely Valeo, Behr, or Bosch.

It'll cost more than $73. But they can be had in the aftermarket for less than the dealer if you look around.

Pretty sure they are Valeo, but it seems like I have seen a Bosch logo on them too for some reason.

Oilhammer - I do not disagree that the OEM unit would have been a higher quality replacement. I was somewhat curious how the VDO would perform. I see the VDO brand routinely on our trusted vendor sites and do not want to disparage the brand. For now I am going to ride this experience out and probably see if adding some electric motor lube quiets the motor down.

One other observation is that the VDO blower I purchased was PM9291. It came very well packaged in a box and appeared to be a legitimate unit. After the purchase, I found one of our trusted vendors with the Siemens VDO part PM9388 selling for over $200 to be the recommended fitment for my 2006.5 Jetta.

Is VDO selling two quality levels of blower motors?