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whistle from the blower fan on high settings.

Posted: Wed Jun 21, 2006 10:33 am
by Mavrik
Ok this isn't for my Vibe but the wife's old 2003 Pontiac Vibe GT which gets brought to me for service by the current owner.Anyway her vehicle when the blower fan is set to 3-4 speed there is a whistling sound from the passanger side dash area. Now this sound is only there on those speeds and seems to be speed related. Its louder on speed 4 then on speed 3. Does anyone know if there is a TBS on this or something I could send her in the right direction to get fixed? I think there is something in the blower motor but am not going to have a tech here rip it apart if they do not know what to look for or do. Plus I think she's out of warranty.And so much for the GT clutch lol, she had hers replaced already. Whats odd is even the Alaska Sales and Service did not want to replace it. Guess they felt it was to hard to do. She had to have a private shop do that for her.Anyway any info about this sound would be great. I don't have the contacts like I used to.

Re: whistle from the blower fan on high settings. (Mavrik)

Posted: Wed Jun 21, 2006 10:42 am
by joatmon
Quote, originally posted by Mavrik ».... Does anyone know if there is a TBS on this or something I could send her in the right direction to get fixed? ... I don't have the contacts like I used to. Apparently not. I think GM still calls them TSBs sorry, I couldn't help myselfCould be an air leak, maybe one of the ducts is misaligned, maybe the cabin air filter door isn't sealing. Maybe there is a leaf or something that got past the filter and is stuck in one of the ducts. Odd how that Vibe came back around. When I have sold or traded-in cars, I never wanted to see them again.

Re: whistle from the blower fan on high settings. (joatmon)

Posted: Wed Jun 21, 2006 10:46 am
by Mavrik
yes... TSB... what was I thinking.Ok so if her cabin airfilter is out of place/plugged how would I go about checking that? To be honest I did not realise the Vibe had one. Or was it just the GT models that do?Yeah some cars just will not go away lol

Posted: Wed Jun 21, 2006 10:56 am
by AKLGT
perhaps one of the vacuum hoses isn't on there tight? i don't remember what funny sounds the car made all the time. it was loud, rattled, so i always had the stereo on.

Re: (trdvibe)

Posted: Wed Jun 21, 2006 10:57 am
by Mavrik
no its from the blower motor area in the dash...

Posted: Wed Jun 21, 2006 11:00 am
by AKLGT
i don't know. i remember when it was cold out, if the heat was on, it'd make a really annoying rattle in the dash due to the fan or blower. i had to turn the heat off or turn the fan down to low.

Re: whistle from the blower fan on high settings. (Mavrik)

Posted: Wed Jun 21, 2006 11:44 am
by joatmon
yes, all Vibes have cabin air filters. If you really didn't know that, then you probably need to replace the one in your 04. Remember Nick's warning at http://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id=982Maybe you could use a piece of tubing or a section of vacuum hose as a stethoscope to better localize the source of the whistle.

Posted: Wed Jun 21, 2006 11:54 am
by zionzr2
I think all blower motors start making noise after age....no matter what make or model.turn up the tunes and no worries hehehehehehejust what a person wants to hear from the service guy!!

Re: (zionzr2)

Posted: Thu Jun 22, 2006 2:25 am
by Mavrik
I'm well aware of what a cabin filter can look like as I've seen those nasty things before but had forgotten my Vibe had one. So how do I get to the filter? I don't want to be ripping her car apart today to find out. I don't have my owners manual with me.

Re: (Mavrik)

Posted: Thu Jun 22, 2006 3:07 am
by joatmon
It's behind the glove box. remove the glove box, look in the resulting hole, find the door (pic in Nick's thread linked above) push down to release clips.

Re: (silverawd26)

Posted: Thu Jun 22, 2006 3:16 am
by Mavrik
Well it sounds like an air leak of sorts because it only happens at higher speeds, like 3-4. I'm hoping its just the compartment filter out of place.

Re: (Mavrik)

Posted: Thu Jun 22, 2006 9:13 am
by Mavrik
Yup it was her compartment air filter however I can't remove it without it wanting to rip apart. Plus here at Subaru I don't have one to put back into it so I guess she should stop by Toyota or GM and pick up one. That should take care of it. I'll probably buy me one and replace mine also.

Posted: Thu Jun 22, 2006 9:47 am
by AKLGT
never changed it so i'm sure it ws nasty!

Re: (Mavrik)

Posted: Thu Jun 22, 2006 9:55 am
by ColonelPanic
Do NOT send the customer to TOYOTA for this filter... It will not fit, no way, no how. Pontiac only! Believe it or not, there are significant differences between the HVAC setup on these cars, there are posts around about this subject if you use the search feature.

Posted: Thu Jun 22, 2006 10:02 am
by zionzr2
Mavrikorder the replacement here they run about $12.

Re: (zionzr2)

Posted: Thu Jun 22, 2006 10:22 am
by Mavrik
actually its $32.95 for the compartment air filter from GM at Alaska Sales and Service... $12? that would be nice.

Posted: Thu Jun 22, 2006 11:28 am
by tnpartsguy
Hey Mav, do you know Jason Wilhelm over at AK S& S? Tell him Richard from TN said hi, and that we will be on the same computer system again come Sept (but not to repeat that!!)Back on Topic.....I wish I had read this earlier, I would have told you to check the stupid filter too, I've seen several doing this, and our Pontiac store doesn't stock the filter.....but I do!

Re: (tnpartsguy)

Posted: Fri Jun 23, 2006 1:21 am
by Mavrik
well I know I should change mine but no one stocks one but Toyota which seems they don't fit? Wish I had read that sooner before I told her to check and see if Toyota had one. Now she probably hates me more seeing as how she hates I told her she needs 4 new tires since both tires that are shot are on the right side of her car and tires are directional... can't buy just two...So you stock them eh? how much with shipping to alaska?

Posted: Fri Jun 23, 2006 4:01 am
by AKLGT
she still has the stockers on the car??? oh man! lol. those needed replacement when i got rid of the car a year ago!