So, gave it a go and, umm, yeah, i don't have stubby screwdrivers, a right angle miniature drill, or mental powers that allow me to remove those screws without touching them!

I resorted to my best laziness here on Sunday through removing (VERY carefully) the facia pieces to get at the front of the fan unit (intake plenum area if you can call it that) and VERY careful used pole brushes i got a while ago at harbor freight to just hook-out the nastiness and remove it: 6 Piece Tube Brush Set

This allowed me to get the majority of the huge dust bunnies that were, in fact, lodged in there, preventing anything from spinning correctly.

So, with me carefully doing that, i didn't have to pull the fan (which i WISH i was able to really), clean it very delicately with the finest pole brushes i have, and eureka i now have removed about 75% of the noise that was happening there.

When i get the stubby screwdrivers (or, more likely use this as an excuse to buy a flexible drill bit extension!) I'll pull the whole thing and either replace entirely (no idea what they cost) or just clean like you have and put it back in.

Thanks for the guidance on this one guys - had NO idea this was right there at the steering column. And now i know how to use a flashlight and check the condition of it very easily and simply.

 

At least you were able to get much of the crud out of there and so now it should perform its function (feed back cabin temperature to the A/C system) better and also hopefully be a little quieter. This suplier lists it http://www.coventrywest.com/store/jt...nsor-assy.html, part No JTF100290 $120.87.