FYI see the update to this post here. The gas furnace in my house is only 7 years old. A couple weeks ago, it started singing to me. Normally a baritone, the furnace decided to expand into the tenor vocal range. Then a certain pain was evident in its song until I finally translated it as “help me . . . help me . . . help me.”
Sure, I could call the number on the side of the furnace and get charged for premium weekend service, but I decided to dive right in and see if I could fix this myself. After all, how hard could it be? I have the internet plus an awesome set of tools.
I started by simply removing the access panel and observing and listening. From there, I found several different manuals available for download via the web and pinned the noise down to the draft inducer motor. Apparently somewhat common, the sealed bearings were worn, causing the shaft to bind and cause the noisy squealing.
I called my friend Steve, who dropped by and we pulled the motor and put a temporary fix in place. We unsealed the bearings, cleaned them, and re-packed them with lithium grease and reassembled. Lo and behold, no more noise! I found the part online for less than $100 and will replace it when it arrives.
I can imagine a service call would have resulted in one charge, then the part would have been ordered and the next service call to install the new motor likely would have totaled over $500. 
The draft inducer motor is just behind the plastic cooling fan above.
The part that is to be replaced is the motor (the black part) Carrier part number 318984-753.
I found it online at Shortys HVAC Supplies.
Welcome to MartyBird.com 
Oh, you are SO smart, and your confidence level is amazing. It seems you’re not afraid to try just about anything. Cool!
LikeLike
Neat, Marty. Nice to know there’s a handy guy around – but we knew that already. Let me see – having trouble with the Jeep battery – won’t hold a charge; wonder what that could be? Hoping it’s not the alternator…
LikeLike
That is awesome. Did you pay yourself the proper rate?!
LikeLike
amazing stuff thanx 🙂
LikeLike
Thanks for the great pics and the post. My furnace sits so far and away up in the attic that we never heard the bearing going out. Finally the heat would never kick on and I went up to investigate.
I looked the diagnostics code from the flashing LED and couldn’t understand any of the solutions so I just started to look and listen. I heard the buzzing from the draft inducer motor. I pulled it out, started googling part numbers and things and your blog popped up after a couple of stores. Most places wanted $160-$180 for the new parts, but your link got me the part for almost half price.
Thanks for taking the time to post things!
LikeLike
@Nazenail
Excellent – glad you were able to fix it inexpensively!
LikeLike
Absolutely gracious web accept here! My cobber actualy sent me a fasten together! Good serendipity!
LikeLike
Marty,
Thanks for posting a link to our website.
Mike
LikeLike
Hey, just looked at your post on the furnace fix, I just did the exact same fix. I know have a vibration problem from the motor. Did experience any such problems?
LikeLike
No, I did not have any problems with vibration after the fix. Go back and look at the mounting – maybe you did not get them all tight? What symptoms are you experiencing?
LikeLike
Maybe you should make changes to the webpage subject title Marty Bird Blog » Money-Saving Furnace Fix to something more suited for your blog post you write. I enjoyed the blog post however.
LikeLike