Heater Blower Recommendation & Warnings?

[JorgeS]

A little background... I owned a 2001 K1500 Suburban for years.
When the heater blower motor went out in 2009, I went to a national store (O'Reilly's I think, but not sure) and bought an aftermarket motor, not the cheapest one. I installed it and it was horribly noise, almost siren-like. I returned it, got the ACDelco motor, and it was way better, just like the original; that was a long time ago.
My 2005 Yukon is making bearing noises, from the blower motor. I'm going to replace it before it stops running (Indiana winter, heater blower is an absolute necessity)
Have any of you had a good, or bad, experience with certain brands? I may just get the ACDelco for $220, but the O'Reilly brand is only $110, and if I can save $110, and not end up replacing it a 2nd time because of noise, I'll be happy.

Thanks for any advice!

 

[stutaeng]

I've bought a 4 Seasons blower and blower resistor for my 06. The blower was imported but the motor resistor was made domestically. The old motor was making a noise, which I thought was a bearing. In the process of replacing the motor, I accidentally shorted out the blower resistor, so I had to replace that. Tried a cheap Amazon one, and didn't work, then I ordered the 4 Seasons. It was kinda spendy at like $100 iirc.

My 99 Silverado is still rocking the original blower and resistor, which is kinda shocking.

 

[JorgeS]

Thank you.
Two questions, to make sure I understand:
1- I gather that the Cour Seasons blower didn't make wxtra fan noise, correct?
2- how long ago was itnyou installed it? (I ask this because aftermarket sellers sometimes change manufacfurers)

 

[stutaeng]

Thank you.
Two questions, to make sure I understand:
1- I gather that the Cour Seasons blower didn't make wxtra fan noise, correct?
2- how long ago was itnyou installed it? (I ask this because aftermarket sellers sometimes change manufacfurers)

It's been maybe 18 months that I replaced it.

My previous blower only made squealing when the temperature was below 40F-ish. I didn't notice any different fan noise when I replaced it with the new one, no.

Let me check which part numbers I used...

Edit: here's the link. Not sure why I bought it on Amazon. Just about everything I buy on Rockauto.

https://a.co/d/8Co1PIO

Reviews don't seem great, so maybe further time will tell?

 

[Marky Dissod]

ACDelco parts for brand new vehicles are not the same as ACDelco replacement parts for a vehicle inside its warranty.
ACDelco parts for vehicles inside warranty are not the same as ACDelco parts for vehicles outside warranty but under 10 years old.
ACDelco parts for vehicles outside warranty but under 10 years old are not the same as ACDelco parts for vehicles over 10 years old.
SORRY
For vehicles over 10 years old, some other parts manufacturer makes the part (or possibly even thoroughly remanufactures),
then sells it to ACDelco, who slaps ACDelco branding on it and gives you a decent warranty in exchange for paying more.
If you find a parts source that you can confirm also makes parts for ACDelco, that's where you buy it from to make it more likely to pay less AND only pay once.

This was written for everyone else who may read it, not for those who already know.

 

[99Sierra2500]

When I worked at a factory making distributor caps as kid, they were just sorted by color between oem, and aftermarket, depending on which injection mold press (big as a Mack truck) you were working on, because of the color of nylon in the hopper.

 

[AuroraGirl]

ACDelco parts for brand new vehicles are not the same as ACDelco replacement parts for a vehicle inside its warranty.
ACDelco parts for vehicles inside warranty are not the same as ACDelco parts for vehicles outside warranty but under 10 years old.
ACDelco parts for vehicles outside warranty but under 10 years old are not the same as ACDelco parts for vehicles over 10 years old.
SORRY
For vehicles over 10 years old, some other parts manufacturer makes the part (or possibly even thoroughly remanufactures),
then sells it to ACDelco, who slaps ACDelco branding on it and gives you a decent warranty in exchange for paying more.
If you find a parts source that you can confirm also makes parts for ACDelco, that's where you buy it from to make it more likely to pay less AND only pay once.

This was written for everyone else who may read it, not for those who already know.

A good example is Delphi making the MAF. the ac delco expensive one is Delphi’s high end. The low end Delphi is some other brands I believe

 

[JorgeS]

ACDelco parts for brand new vehicles are not the same as ACDelco replacement parts for a vehicle inside its warranty.
ACDelco parts for vehicles inside warranty are not the same as ACDelco parts for vehicles outside warranty but under 10 years old.
ACDelco parts for vehicles outside warranty but under 10 years old are not the same as ACDelco parts for vehicles over 10 years old.
SORRY
For vehicles over 10 years old, some other parts manufacturer makes the part (or possibly even thoroughly remanufactures),
then sells it to ACDelco, who slaps ACDelco branding on it and gives you a decent warranty in exchange for paying more.
If you find a parts source that you can confirm also makes parts for ACDelco, that's where you buy it from to make it more likely to pay less AND only pay once.

This was written for everyone else who may read it, not for those who already know.

You are correct for some parts.
I worked for Delco Remy (then became Delphi, then poof!) in the alternator group, spending 3 years (1998-2001) as the aftermarket lead product engineer (think reman). We remanufactured as many as 3 million units a year; the largest being the CS130, which when it started production had the lifetime of a gnat.
GM allowed use of reman units for warranty at that time (maybe they still do).
You buy a brand new GM car. If there is an issue and the alternator was replaced, you might get a brand new new unit, or a unit that was remanufactured with reconditioned & new parts. Did not seem right to me, but that's the way it was.
On the plus side, we replaced the parts that failed with high rates with the latest and best that were being used on OE units. If you had a, say, 1992 Grand Prix (that initially had high alternator failure rates) and replaced it with our reman, the reman was likely to last several times longer than the OE unit - really. Better electronics, better bearings, better brushes, etc.
For pickups, the same alternators were used for many years; I think from later GMT400 to early GMT800. We would reduce the quantity of PNs and use the same reman PN for as many vehicles as possible.
For parts that are not remanufactured, I think your comment is spot on.
The reman operation was shut down (I think) in 2002 or 2003.

 

[99Sierra2500]

I remember taking alternators, generators, and starters to the local rebuilder shop.

 

[AuroraGirl]

You are correct for some parts.
I worked for Delco Remy (then became Delphi, then poof!) in the alternator group, spending 3 years (1998-2001) as the aftermarket lead product engineer (think reman). We remanufactured as many as 3 million units a year; the largest being the CS130, which when it started production had the lifetime of a gnat.
GM allowed use of reman units for warranty at that time (maybe they still do).
You buy a brand new GM car. If there is an issue and the alternator was replaced, you might get a brand new new unit, or a unit that was remanufactured with reconditioned & new parts. Did not seem right to me, but that's the way it was.
On the plus side, we replaced the parts that failed with high rates with the latest and best that were being used on OE units. If you had a, say, 1992 Grand Prix (that initially had high alternator failure rates) and replaced it with our reman, the reman was likely to last several times longer than the OE unit - really. Better electronics, better bearings, better brushes, etc.
For pickups, the same alternators were used for many years; I think from later GMT400 to early GMT800. We would reduce the quantity of PNs and use the same reman PN for as many vehicles as possible.
For parts that are not remanufactured, I think your comment is spot on.
The reman operation was shut down (I think) in 2002 or 2003.

2003 is close to when Delphi couldnt even keep up production to supply enough alternators to GM, when they started to source Denso for the 3800 cars (trucks had delphi i noticed)

Sad the spin off and subseuqnet problems of hte 2000s. more of that is a problem of society/economy, gm under rick wagoner, and maladaptive economic decisions of the leadership