Strange whirrling sound from inside dash.
 

Not sure where to post this so will start here.

2013 FRS has started to make a sound like something is spinning in the dashboard. Radio area in specific.

I know that it is not engine/mechanical because if I shut the engine off but leave the key in the accessory position, the noise continues. If I turn the key to the off position the noise stops.

The noise is intermittent and comes and goes as I drive. Not loud but annoying.


Anyone have this happen? Be nice to pinpoint the problem before I start tearing the dash out.

As always, thanks for the help.

I would guess it has something to do with the air circulation fan.

Does it happen whether or not the AC is ON?

Bubba says to reach with your hand as far up under the dash as possible and twist and pound around on things to see if you can make it stop - :iono:

It's the cooling fan in your head unit going out.

Maybe pull the radio fuse and see if it goes away.

I've had something similar and assumed it's the CD player (though it makes the noise whether there's a CD "stored" in it or not).

It never occurred to me that there's an internal fan, but that sort of makes sense. I have a 2013 with the base head unit.

I believe it is a fan of some sort based on this video I found. The video shows the exact noise I hear, but pretty useless at helping with a fix.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ou406-zP5no

https://i.imgur.com/WlrZ6NZ.png


Is there a document on line that shows where this fan might be? I would rather not just start pulling the dash apart with no end-goal if there is a proper way to reach the mystery fan; maybe from the passenger side with the glovebox removed?



EDIT OK with the hints provided here I was able to do a more focused search on the forum, It seems to be a cooling fan built in to the Radio unit itself. Solution is to remove the head unit and either hit it with a drop of oil ( temp solution) or find another head unit. The radio seems reasonable easy to remove so I think I will start with the ddrop of oil and go from there.

Thanks all for pointing me in the right direction.

I still vividly remember both my '13 and '16 FRS having such whirring sounds after shut off and I right away realized it was from the headunit..now the GR Corolla has an interesting honk/beep that I believe periodically goes off while the car is running but it becomes the only remaining sound when you turn it off, sounds like someone is honking at you from afar!