happy New Year everyone okay let's just jump into the topic there has been a random on and off noise coming to the interior initially I thought it was from the engine bay maybe some loose pulley. Today I finally keep the engine on and the hood open it's inside the noise is directly coming right behind the steering wheel dashboard and the best way to describe it sounds like a sharp metal scrapping humming noise.

It happens on and off randomly ,on and off. Local and highway. When the car is on the move and ideal.
ideal.

I'm losing my mind and getting no clue where to begin search for the solution

Thanks

 

Could it have to do with the steering wheel positioning system and an intermittent power / ground to the up / down , in / out motors?

You could locate and remove the associated fuses and see if it goes away.?

Just a thought.

jeffxj8

 

So, I see you found the Christmas present someone left for you...nice. Oh wait, wrong car...lol

I seriously am going to have to say, however random this is, get a video of it if you could. Your description is rather vague...my first thought is the dash vent insert.

 

Vincent,

The steering wheel controls could only be the issue if they don't work.

I thought about this because the in / out mechanism on my 2001 is broken and when it is activated, it makes a grinding noise behind the dash.

any luck finding it?

jeffxj8

 

My car had very annoying rattling and or tapping sound coming from somewhere in the instrument cluster area of the dash. I listened the sound couple of weeks trying to find the source almost everytime I drove the car. Then accidentally my finger touched the windscreen wash button and the noise was gone. The freaki'n button was worn out to the it's slot. Button then vibrates when the car was drove. First thing in my mind was what a car. Fix was to put a weak spring under the button to get it tight to the slot. After the fix it has been quiet and not too stiff to push.

 

Sorry for the quality of video. But it just randomly happened and I tried to catch the moment

 

Does interior fan motor speed affect to the noise ?

 

I second this it almost sounds like the fan bearings are starting to fail. The dials would make a ticking noise if failing. Otherwise it might just be a general dash rattle. the dash wood can come loose and rattle/squeak (they are metal covered with wood veneer) and the front seat buckles also tend to rattle over time.

 

Here is a better recording of the noise

 

It still sounds like failing fan motor.

 

This?

https://www.partsgeek.com/gbproducts...saAngxEALw_wcB

 

Yes. Either left or right one. But first make absolutely sure that it is the source by shutting hvac down when the noise occurs. Fan motor replacement is dashboard completely off job.

 

yes, now I can confirm it's the noise from the fan motor as the noise will stop as soon as I turn off the fan.

How many hours of labor are we talking about?




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I dunno. I haven't done it to my car yet. But I'd guess from another make of cars I've done it. It can be easily 8 hours and more. And while worker is in there the noise insulator stuff inside the air ducts must be re glued or taken out so you don't have to take dash out again..

 

OMG, this is going to be a expensive fix. I will do it when later as it is not all urgent. I will to allocate my budget to the moonroof and headliner repair.

 

Its not so expensive as it is time consuming. Undoing parts, bagging and labeling, putting wood pieces aside so they don't get scratched. I believe mod DonB had a post about 5 yrs ago or so, where he showed a completely disassembled dash? I'm not dead sure it was him, but if I recall correctly, it was a Dropbox link. The site was updated since then, I tried to find it with no avail, the search feature sucks since the update.

 

I mean what I say it is going to be expensive because I am not handy enough for a DIY, so paying 8 ,on the safe side.let's say 10 hours of mechanic labor that is like 1K there already at least for getting rid of the fan noise.

 

Oh, then yeah, that's expensive.