My heater / AC sounds weird – help diagnose

drive · Post by **drive** » Sat Feb 22, 2003 5:30 pm

Ok I have a 91 legacy turbo (US) with 145K miles. Just this morning I started to hear a weird sound when the heater or ac is on. It’s almost like a something is flapping around. The flapping sound changes proportionally to the speed setting on the vent controls. If I put my hand under the passenger side glove box I can feel the vibration. Is this my vent system coming to the end? If so does anyone know the exact name of the part? Is it the same for all legacy (turbo and NA) 90-94?

Thanks
JD

Post by **Legacy777** » Sat Feb 22, 2003 7:08 pm

You probably have a leave or twig caught in the blower motor.

Remove the glove box, there's two screws below it. Remove the metal bracket that it was bolted to. You should see the three bolts that hold the blower motor in the ventilation box. Remove those three bolts and the motor should slide out. There may be an additional metal bracket you'll have to remove to get the blower motor out.....but shouldn't be a big deal.

Once you get it out.....you'll probably see something in there. Clean it out and put back together.

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Sat Feb 22, 2003 11:10 pm

Hmm, that's funny... I sometimes have the reverse problem; I hear a flapping from the vicinity of the blower motor when the motor's off. If I turn the fan on, it goes away.

mikec · Post by **mikec** » Sat Feb 22, 2003 11:54 pm

I've been getting a vibration noise when the passenger window is down and the fan is on since I took the dash apart. I think its the routing of the cable that controls the hot / cold air vent.

Ah... the sounds of a Legacy.

Post by **Legacy777** » Mon Feb 24, 2003 3:43 pm

vrg3 wrote:Hmm, that's funny... I sometimes have the reverse problem; I hear a flapping from the vicinity of the blower motor when the motor's off. If I turn the fan on, it goes away.

It's possible something is in there, or loose.....when the blower motor is off the flapper vent stays part way open.....

123c · Post by **123c** » Mon Sep 22, 2003 2:59 am

I hear a "ticking" noise when I have the system off, and it apears to to be coming from behind the instrument panel or climate control panel. When I have the fan on, I sometimes hear a "howling" the faster I go, and when I am at a dead stop I don't hear a noise unless the wind is blowing. I have also noticed more of a "clicking" noise when the fan is set at a lower setting, I now on my brothers 1990 Legacy, his isn't really as loud.

I have also noticed that when I have the fan on I can smell stuff from the engine compartment and the surrounding area more easily. Is there something missing or not there which would cause this, because again on my brothers car, he doesn't really have this problem...

LaureltheQueen · Post by **LaureltheQueen** » Mon Sep 22, 2003 6:29 am

my tape deck's ghetto. when i have it turned up really loud(crappy mp3 recording) the fuzzy sound in the back changes loudness and pitch according to my motor's rpms.

Yukonart · Post by **Yukonart** » Mon Sep 22, 2003 7:00 am

That's just a bad ground to the deck.

LaureltheQueen · Post by **LaureltheQueen** » Mon Sep 22, 2003 7:12 am

my whole car is grounded badly. touch it wrong and you'll get zapped.

Yukonart · Post by **Yukonart** » Mon Sep 22, 2003 7:13 am

Sounds like fun. . . .mind if I try, sometime?

LaureltheQueen · Post by **LaureltheQueen** » Mon Sep 22, 2003 7:14 am

kinky

legacy92ej22t · Post by **legacy92ej22t** » Mon Sep 22, 2003 4:47 pm

vrg3 wrote:Hmm, that's funny... I sometimes have the reverse problem; I hear a flapping from the vicinity of the blower motor when the motor's off. If I turn the fan on, it goes away.

My friend has the same problem and the local scooby dealer says it's a bad resistor. If he makes it so none of the buttons are pushed in it goes away, try it.
I have the slight ticking noise when my fan is on the lowest setting. Not sure what causes that though.

ericS2the6 · Post by **ericS2the6** » Mon Sep 22, 2003 5:24 pm

yep i have the same ticking noise when the "off" button is pushed in. just gently push the off button and another button together simutaneously to cancel each button out. ticking disapears.

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Tue Sep 23, 2003 4:34 am

legacy92ej22t - Yeah, I've read that the resistor could be at fault too. I actually got my hands on a "new" one off a later model Legacy that I'm gonna swap in to try.

Tleg93 · Post by **Tleg93** » Tue Sep 23, 2003 7:20 pm

Yeah, that's how I silence the problem, just make sure the OFF button is never pushed in (that's when the noise happens). In other words make sure the OFF button is never ON hehe. I was told from someone that it was a resistor pack. I can't seem to locate it to replace it. To be honest I haven't looked all that hard.
I've noticed a couple other things in regards to this. Almost every time this clicking noise occurs if I shut the car down completely for a couple secs., turn the key to ACC until you hear a relay click, once the relay is energized wait just a sec and then start the car. Sometimes this makes the sound disappear until you turn on the air and turn it off again. It's almost definitely an electrical problem of some kind. I've noticed that it happens in my car even when the vent is on and the fan set low. At that point it sounds like the fan is pulsating when the car is idiling but this is intermittent. I don't know if it's related but when the AC unit is on any setting and I'm driving sometimes I feel a quick dropout like the car just blinks off for a split second. If I set the unit as described above (OFF button not pressed) then I can get on it and it doesn't "stutter".
Sorry about the long post it's just been anoying me to death.

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Wed Sep 24, 2003 12:06 am

Wow, I haven't looked through my symptoms so thoroughly...

The resistor pack is attached to the evaporator core, I believe. The part number for a new one is 72024AA000. They're kind of expensive though. I might try making my own from a few power resistors from a surplus house.

Tleg93 · Post by **Tleg93** » Wed Sep 24, 2003 1:03 am

It's been going on for about a year now that how I started to notice all that stuff. I guess I always have other things to spend my money on. It's not something that is real critical so I just let it go. BTW the relay clicks on in the ON position not Acc. Sorry about the long post I guess I started blabbing a bit....

Tleg93 · Post by **Tleg93** » Fri Sep 26, 2003 4:23 pm

Hey JD, if replacing the resistor pack works let me know.

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My heater / AC sounds weird – help diagnose

My heater / AC sounds weird – help diagnose

Ticking

noise

noises