DIY: Cleaned the AC blower on my Mitsubishi Pajero Sport

I'd last cleaned the cabin air filter about a year ago, and this time although the filter was reasonably clean, I found that a rat had brought in a lot of foreign material.

BHPian vigsom recently shared this with other enthusiasts:

A cabin air filter helps keep the blower, the evap core and the air path clean

Quote from BHPian vigsom:

1. by opening the fresh air flap I could access the flap and a portion of the upstream from beneath the blower housing - not easy but not impossible either.
2. cleaned the blower suction and the blower discharge duct too till wherever I could reach using a dry cloth
3. Closed the fresh air flap, and installed the cleaned blower

After over four and a half years, I repated the air path cleaning and inspected the blower, and this is what I found - almost clean blower with negligible dust pick up on the vanes.

I'd last cleaned the cabin air filter about a year ago, and this time although the filter was reasonably clean, I found that a rat had brought in a lot of foreign material and that was deposited just above the fresh air intake flap. When I opened the flap, this fell down through the blower casing, and it was thus cleaned. I then inspected and cleaned the flap through the blower opening and it looked good, except that the sealing foam is now disintegrating. Anyways, that is a task for a later day.

Jun-2020 | Dirty blower before cabin air filter installation

Jun-2020 | Blower cleaned when cabin air filter was installed

Feb-2025 | Blower condition after over 4.5 years - had barely picked up any dust thanks to the cabin air filter and a reasonably clean cabin. Cleaned the blower nevertheless

Foreign material that was deposited by Mr.Rat above the fresh air flap. I always keep the flap closed, but even had the flap been opened accidentally, the stuff would have been blocked by the the cabin air filter

Fresh air path (as seen through the blower casing) after opening the flap and after the foreign material was removed - some dust and a few small leaves were all that needed to be removed

Kick panel below the blower - found clean

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