As usual, you guys have been a big help in taking apart a tricky little device.
I was able to remove the passenger side air vent without mishap following the advice given on this site. I did use two small finishing nails that would fit into the holes in the metal clips. I could then squeeze the nails together to raise the clips and release the side of the vent. It would help a first timer to know that the clips are part of the vent that you remove and not a part of the surround. So then you have a little better idea of retracting them to clear the holders.

Once the vent was safely out of the way I could see the subject fan down below. It ran fine and only makes noise on first startup on a cold or cool morning. Once the car is heated the noise goes away. I decided to try just lubricating the device before getting into a complete fan-ectomy. So I was able to get my hand down the vent hole and hold the foam insulation back away from the end of the motor enough to get some lub down there. The noise is gone at this point in time, of course the weather is warmer and it might not make any noise anyway. So I will await colder weather and see if a simple lub job will solve my problem. If not I will probably ask for a bit more guidance from you experienced folks for the fan-ectomy. Thanks for all the follow-up advice. This work is on a 124 body, a '93 300TE 4Matic. srharvey

'82 380SL, 125M
'83 240D, 240M
'93 300TE 4Matic, 284M