I started up the Disco after work yesterday and there was a loud hum and vibration coming from the glove box, which stopped when I turned off the AC. I researched here, and found that another guy had the issue back in 2006, but there wasn't a resolution. There was an assumption that something had fallen into the blower wheel (leaves or something), but someone else said that it could be gummed up bearings. Not sure what to think there.
The guy trying to troubleshoot had a hard time knowing where the blower wheel was, even after taking the glove box out.
If anyone has clear directions on a) how to get to the blower from the glove box and/or b) what is causing the loud hum/vibration, please let me know. Thanks.

 

It is fall.
If you are on a street with falling leaves - there you go.

 

It is still warm in NorCal with all the leaves still green. We have no leafy trees in our yard or the parking lot where I work.
I am not saying it couldn't be a leaf, but I would like to know if someone has gone through this issue and found whether that noise is caused by a gummed up bearing or a leaf in the blower.

 

you have leaves. you can pull that blower out in ten minutes. three screws. ten bucks says there are leaves in there. do you have the filter screen under the hood

 

By filter screen, do you mean that scouring pad thing that is inside of my cowl? I do have that in place still.
If anyone has a pictorial of how I would go about getting to that blower, I'd appreciate it. On page 80-26 of the RAVE workshop manual, in the heating and ventilation system section, it shows how to remove the entire blower assembly. I am hoping that I can just take a cover off of the blower while it is still in place and look into the blower for debris. Is that possible?

 

if you just look up under the passenger side dash there is a circular plastic housing that clearly has a blower inside it. there is a pigtail, unclip the wires take the three small screws out and it will fall out on the passenger floor board... I'm telling you its going to take you longer to read this than take it out. I can remove it clean it and reinstal in under 10 minutes.. you'll laugh at how simple it is after you've done it once. I cleaned an entire load of leaves out and about a week later it had filled up again. I don't even have a tree. but when you get the air moving it pulls the stuck stuff through and fills up again if you have a lot

 

this is the part your looking for.. my trim panel is installed. you can look right through the hole and see it.. there are three tiny screws around it.
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The open side of the blower is facing up like a cup, to trap anything that comes down the fresh air intake. Three bolts drop it down for quick clean out.

 

The bolts will be up around where that frame hits the core part of the heater.
Guessing they will be 1/4 " or so?

Probably spaced in 120 degree increments.

Look like thermal shielding is in the way.
Nice picture by the way.

 

Alright guys, finally got around to taking care of this animal.
First, thanks Suzukisam967m for the pic. Helped a lot.
This was impossible to do without removing the thermal shield (the black cardboard-like shroud). It is attached with 3 push in studs

Just pull these straight out. There is also one in the middle, close to the firewall that looks like this
it is essentially just a screw, so use a flathead and unscrew it.
I then used a 3/8" nutdriver to remove the three screw holding the blower in place. I had a hard time getting it out because of a wiring harness that was passing under it, so I unplugged a few things to free it so it would drop and release. This is what I found.

My blower was full of nasty lint. no leaves, as I had suspected, but this wasn't any better. I spun the wheel and it felt like it could turn freely, although it could have benefitted from a lubrication, but I was in a hurry. At least now I know how to get this thing off.
I put the three push in studs back first, and then looked through the hole and could see the bolt that the screw on stud attached to, so I attached that one last.
I had read a bit about a guy whose issue was a dry (not rolling freely) bearing on the blower wheel. His symptoms were the same as mine, although when he put his fan on low it didn't hum. I tried that, and mine didn't hum either, so I was all ready to disassemble the motor to lube it. I ran the A/C on high after the job was done, and there was no hum, so take that for what you will.
Thanks a ton for the help, guys.