09 Tacoma Blower motor help

Hey TW, Looking for some help with a blower motor. I have a 09 Tacoma Prerunner W/TRD Sport pkg. I have been hearing a kind of growling noise when I turn the blower on high but is working o.k. Yesterday we got a lot of hard rain, when I came out of work I had water on the passenger floorboard. I thought maybe the heater core was shot but this was just clean, clear water, no antifreeze so I think the rain got through some way but it was dripping off the blower motor. I tried the blower and it was sluggish so I drove it home (about 20 mi.) trying the blower every no and then, it did o.k. My Temp. stayed Normal.Got out there this morning and the blower is running fine but the growl is a little more pronounced. The truck is warming up fine, all fluid levels are good, temp. gauge is normal so I don't think the water had anything to do with the heater core, just a leak I need to find. I bought it used last March so it might be something the previous owner had done before, Ex. drilled a hole for a wire run or something. It has never happened before. My question is, if it was the Blower motor resister or relay going bad I would not have power to the blower motor, Right? I don't have much experience on this one.I was thinking about starting by replacing the Blower motor first. Has anyone ever experienced anything like this? Thanks for the help. SC

 

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-tacomas/28355-blower-motor-squeek-chirp-low-fix.html

 

This is a good source for the water leakage:

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-tacomas/88655-water-thru-cabin-air-intake-my-solution.html