A/C Issue: Blower Motor or something else?

Before I buy the part, I thought I'd ask for the opinion of the community.

Last week, my daughter said the A/C in her 2014 wasn't working. She tried turning the car and the air conditioner on and off a few times, then drove it on an errand anyway, which included turning it off and on at least once.

When she got home, she texted for me to come to the car and she says that when I closed the passenger door to get inside, it started working. IOW: At this point, I did not witness it broken and it started working without her doing anything. The car was running and the a/c was switched on.

After that, I drove the car pretty much daily and the first A/C thing I noticed was that (what I assume to be) her compressor was louder than the one in our 2010. Of course, her car is dark blue and the other is white. It is also August in Florida after the hottest July ever recorded. The noise is coming from under the hood.

Because she's planning a trip, today I went outside with the intention of comparing the two vehicles and seeing what I could learn about her air conditioner, but when I started it, I wasn't getting the loud hum from under the hood and the fan was not blowing.

The first thing I did was check it again with my Carista while the a/c wasn't working -- no codes -- then I tried rebooting the car several times, turning the a/c from auto to manual, playing with the fan speeds, basically pushing buttons. I also tried opening and closing the passenger door and after maybe six reboots, on like the seventh, the fan and a/c started working normally.

This made me think it is probably the blower and maybe when I closed the passenger door that time, it jarred something to make it start working. There has been a time or two over the past week, when I have wondered whether it was blowing as much as it should, but I didn't measure with any kind of tool and it may have just been hotter outside at that time.

Again, I'm thinking it is the blower motor, but the fact that there was no hum under the hood when the fan wasn't working makes me wonder, and I did ot think about trying heat or vent when the a/c did not seem to be working. Since then, I've restarted the car a few times, but thus far, everything seems to be working. (Though it may have been blowing a tiny bit less forcefully and not quite as cold on my way to Publix than it was on the way home, but tat could also be my imagination.)

Any thoughts? Thanks!

 

Thanks. I'm a 70-degree guy living where it was 98 yesterday.
Previously, my Prii have been able to keep up, but it's been extra hot.

I'll check my cabin filter. To be honest, I don't that I've changed it in years. Leaves aren't really an issue here. The car is mostly only parked near palm trees, but the filter is worth looking it and maybe changing. My concern is that she's going to leave on her trip and the fan is going to unexpectedly give out. Right now, it's been several days between problems and I only have a day to fix..

You'd also think that if the fan was struggling from the filter, it would struggle to blow instead of completely going out, but the car is certainly smart enough to shut it down to "save" the fan and I don't really know. That's why I've asked.

I'll check it out. Thanks

 

Thanks @Tombukt2 and @CR94

I didn't mean to blow you off or seem ungrateful.

I replaced the cabin filter and air did flow more freely. My daughter says she had changed hers sometime over the past three years, but did not know when, so I changed it again, loaned her an 8mm socket and a ratchet and the a/c did just fine on her trip.

If it happens again, I guess I'm back to the blower motor, but so far, so good.

Thanks