2016 blower motor problem

Mine broke this morning. 30k miles. While at Toyota, another Tacoma was in for the same issue. Service manager said there's a backorder for the part. He said he's seeing many 2016s & 2017s come in for this and many dealerships complaining to Toyota. They tried fixing with 2 part Epoxy to get me by. I haven't tried it yet as the Epoxy needs to cure.

 

Just finished reading the linked thread and now see about removing the assembly and seeing about clamping/epoxying. Going to send both threads to Boulder Toyota's manager about this as well. Thanks Opihi!

 

This seems to be so common, and with so many units on back order, that Toyota simply must be working on a revision. I'll be real happy to hear about any news on this front if anyone happens to interact with someone from Toyota "in the know." It's a real big deal to lose your fan, not just in summer heat, but think about need for defrosting/defogging the windshield, and of course winter time in cold areas. It can simply disable a vehicle to the point of it not being functionally usable for many owners.

 

Had my 2016 Tacoma blower fan break last week in 105+ in NC. They are replacing the blower motor and fan assembly under the long term warranty. However was told today that these parts are on back order for 8 to 12 weeks. Evidently over a thousand of them on back order in the northeast alone for same problem of fan breaking off end of shaft for no reason. Sounds like time for a recall to me.

I did make a discovery though. Pull the plug from the side of the motor under the dash. Then set the fan switch to low. The solenoid on the a/c will engage. Obviously the motor is off now. Make sure the recirculate mode is turned off so the system is set for outside air. Set the temp selector to cool, but not max. With it set like this, as you drive air will be pulled aerodynamically through the system and you will get cool air through the vents. It seems to be not bad. You can increase your cool air flow some by opening only the back window. If you set the selector to heat you will get heat as well.