There is a nasty ticking noise on my Octavia's heater fan - the faster the fan the faster the ticking. Is this the fan motor going home or could there be a benign explanation? Changing the heater motor looks like one hell of a fiddle

could possibly be a leaf or other foreign debris trapped in the fan , try removing the pollen filter to see if you can get the bits out

If the cause of the ticking noise is a leaf, then removing the blower on the Octavia is far easier to do than removing the pollen filter.

I found that there is very little access to the fan from the pollen filter side (top of blower unit, ahead of the windscreen).

In my case the leaf was in the center of the fan an no amount of running it at full speed could dislodge it.

The following is based on the left-hand drive Octavia:

Remove the glove box.

Remove the glove box lamp connector.

Remove the power connector from the blower motor.

Remove the foot well cover under the dashboard.

Remove the two screws holding the baseplate under the blower assembly,

the blower motor will drop out downwards.

Remove the offending leaf.

Test the unit before finally reassembling everything.