York P2MPD20L08001A blower motor won't come on.

[DougDingle]

I have a 20 year old system I've been nursing along (York P2MPD20L08001A) because I currently can't really afford to replace it, and this past week, when temps rose to 100 degrees in Los Angeles, and I was out of town for a funeral, my wife texted to tell me that when she fired up the air conditioner, the blower fan won't come on.

When I got home, I checked voltages, and the control board is sending 120 volts to the motor, and it makes a kind of loud grunting sound, but won't turn.

When I reach in to try to turn the blower wheel, it feels like its binding somewhat (although it does turn, but not freely), and is making a metal on metal scraping sound as if the wheel is scraping against the housing.

Is it possible the set screw holding the wheel to the shaft has come loose, or is it time to give up due to the thing's age and look for a new system?

I'd have a closer look internally, but the furnace is under the house in a very difficult place to access things, and taking the housing apart is major project.

Any advice appreciated. Thanks.

[akaothermick]

It probably not been lubricated if its that difficult to get to, yes the screw can come loose or bearing failure, you have no option but to remove the fan and service it or replace the unit,

[DougDingle]

I crawled back under the house to have another look, and after seeing how the thing was put together decided it was impossible for me to pull out the motor, all things considered. The control board assembly, lots of connectors and sensor wiring, a bunch of stuff would have to be removed to get the motor assembly free enough to slide out.

So I stared at it for a while, and noticed that the three point metal arm/rubber shock mount they used to secure the motor looked slightly lopsided. I used a crowbar to slightly pry up the mounting bracket on the lowest side, reached in, spun the wheel, and hey, it spun freely and for a good long time. So I had my wife fire up the fan from the thermostat, and it ran just fine. At that point, I assumed the rubber shock mount had somehow compressed over 20 years, causing the motor to go slightly lopsided and the wheel to scrape the housing.

So I McGyvered it. Found a small piece of scrap 1/8" thick aluminum bar, drilled a hole large enough to pass the mounting screw that went through the rubber shock mount to the casing, removed the screw, slipped the piece of aluminum between the shock mount and casing, put the screw back in and tightened it, and voila!

It's been running fine for several hours. We'll see if it lasts me through the cooling/heating season until next spring.

[HayZee518]

look into Harbor Freight under misc hardware. There are some kits that include synthetic rubber grommets that should work better for a sound dampener.

[akaothermick]

That's great that you solved the problem, probably good for another 20yrs, a tip, as far as removing the fan, if it had been necessary you could use your phone to make lots of digital pictures of the before, in process, and then you always know what went where, and can reassemble it correctly.