fan noise / passenger side

[itsfun]

I have noticed that at its lowest setting I can hear the HVAC fan clicking as it spins. The sound is coming from the passenger side. It sounds like a cheap computer fan with a bad bearing. Has anybody else experienced this? It's not very loud but I notice it all the time! Do you think it's worth complaining about to the dealer?

[FRZ]

I have a BRZ Limited, and I have the same problem. Its annoying, wondering if there's anything that can be done besides turning off the HVAC altogether..

[MI FR-S]

Mine is a little loud too.
On the bright side, it does drown out the crickets sometimes.

[Wankel Rex]

Ditto. Debating whether to have the dealership check it out and risk having them dismantle the dash. I don't want to fix one thing only to create other rattles.

But it is annoying if I'm not listening to music.

[loki]

Having the same issue in my BRZ, going to take her to the dealership and see if it's under warranty. The noise is loud .. we're talking the loudest aircooled performance PC type of loud - not okay.

[mitosis]

Funny that you should say that, I've mentioned it in a different thread about mysterious cabin noises and even described it as sounding like a bad computer fan. In fact our descriptions of the sound are almost identical...

Originally Posted by mitosis

I'm at work so I can't watch your video, but I have an annoying high pitched buzzing sound that comes from my car sometimes quite loudly. Almost reminds me of a mosquito without the tone to it, only the buzz.

The sound seems to come from down by the passenger feet and I thought it was my speakers making buzz or static (the sound is very similar to the sound my computer speakers make if I turn them way up but have nothing playing through them).

My wife and I were able to trace it down to the ventilation fan by having her stick her head down by her feet when the sound was happening. Turns out the sound goes away if I set my fan speed knob to off.

I realize now that it's the same sound as a shitty computer fan with bad bearings, so I stopped caring since I'm not gonna bother the dealer over some trivial thing like suspecting that my ventilation fan's bearings are wearing out... by which I mean that I would like to avoid letting a dealer get anywhere near my car at all costs, so I'll just wait for it to actually break before going near there (assuming the car is still under warranty when it happens).

You say your sound is coming from near the pedals so it might be a different thing, but I'd say it's worth giving it a shot... try turning your vent fan completely off and see if the sound goes away.

[andrew20195]

How many miles do you guys have on your cars? Ever had the cabin filter replaced? In my experience clogged cabin filters can cause funny blower noises, or if the filter was changed, it's possible a leaf or other debris fell into the blower motor. If the filter wasn't changed, it's still possible, but much less likely, that something could have become stuck in the blower.

[AznBRZer]

Same problem here and like you, I'm just going to wait until they break. No need to rip up my dash and maybe introduce more rattles if the fans are still working fine. Noise started at about 2 months and 2500 miles.

[Mikem53]

Sometimes debris can get past the filter or lodged in by the fan housing..
I would try to access the area near the fan by removing the filter and feel around in there for some debris or possibly something interfering with the clearances.

[andrew20195]

Originally Posted by AznBRZer

Same problem here and like you, I'm just going to wait until they break. No need to rip up my dash and maybe introduce more rattles if the fans are still working fine. Noise started at about 2 months and 2500 miles.

Removing the blower motor does not require "tearing up the dash". It's actually pretty easy to access.

[tomkozski]

As it seems like many of us have this problem (myself included), maybe it's normal and Subaru/Toyota used a cheaper fan. Just turn the radio on and pretend the noise doesn't exist (along with crickets and all the other rattles).

[mitosis]

Originally Posted by andrew20195

How many miles do you guys have on your cars?

About 3800, not sure when the sound showed up... at least 1000 miles ago.

Originally Posted by Mikem53

I would try to access the area near the fan by removing the filter and feel around in there for some debris or possibly something interfering with the clearances.

Good idea, I may as well try it. I actually have pondered if maybe the filter is slightly hung up on one of the hooks (never looked at the filter in our car but on any other car I've worked on the filter media is frameless and you have to hook the edges of the paper filter into the removable frame) because the sound is kind of "kazoo-like" as if it's a bit of paper or packaging material being blown around in the wind.

Originally Posted by andrew20195

Removing the blower motor does not require "tearing up the dash". It's actually pretty easy to access.

Good to know... if poking around in the filter area doesn't yield me any results maybe I'll try tearing out the motor and powering it on my bench to see if the sound is actually coming from the fan bearings.

[Ra5caL]

Has anyone figured out whats causing this noise yet?

Anyone check for leaves from the blower motor?

[Clawz]

I have the same sound for my 2014 BRZ