Clicking noise underneath passenger airbag

[JI737]

Hello, long time lurker, first time poster here. I have an 05 Vibe that just yesterday started making a strange noise. A thumping noise started in an area, sounding like it's just underneath the passenger airbag or windshield wiper. It's maybe 2 clicks per second, with a definite pattern of 9 clicks, and then one half-click (higher pitched, off-tempo) before the cycle starts again. I've read a bit about the recirculation door that gets stripped but I wanted to ask before I commit to trying to fix that problem, because the sound happens no matter if the fan is set to on or off. Seems to me that if the fan is set to off, it wouldn't make the noise, but I could be wrong. The strange thing seems to be that, on a hot day driving with maybe 3 or 4 stops, it was during the middle of the trip that the sound started happening out of the blue. Do I need to look into this stripped part, or is it something else? Thank you for any response.

[joatmon]

welcome ex-lurker The stripped recirc motor isn't affected by fan speed, it is usually affected by the recirc setting. When mine went, it made the clicks when I had it set to fresh air, but was quiet and happy when I set it to recirculate. try setting it to recirculate and see if that makes the sound go away, if it does, then that's a pretty reliable indicator that it's the gear on that recirc motor lost a tooth. You can also relatively easily take out the glove box, and put your hand up on or real close to the recirc motor and feel it clicking, if that is the problem.It might be something else, but it seems that's the most likely cause based on your description.

[JI737]

Yes, that's definitely it. Thanks for your response. Now the struggle is, as someone who hasn't done that much work on my car (actually, I think the only thing I've done is change the cabin air filter...) do I attempt to fix it myself? I think I could take the dash off and all that, and it's surely cheaper than the several hundred+ the dealership might charge, but perhaps frustrating. Do you know if it hurts anything to keep using it the way it is? I think I could probably live with 5 minutes of thumping before switching over to recirc every time I drive the car so the A/C cools it down, if I had to.

[jake75]

If it is what I think it is, cost me approx. $200 at dealer; $80 part, $120 labor. Part on-line would be about $40. Sold my '03 and gave all the service records to the buyer so I don't have the exact details. There is a longer more complete discussion of this in the GenVibe archives. I have never mastered the search feature so I cannot find it. I don't think it is a fan motor - just something that moves a flap.

[jake75]

Quote, originally posted by JI737 »Yes, that's definitely it. Thanks for your response. Now the struggle is, as someone who hasn't done that much work on my car (actually, I think the only thing I've done is change the cabin air filter...) do I attempt to fix it myself? I think I could take the dash off and all that, and it's surely cheaper than the several hundred+ the dealership might charge, but perhaps frustrating. Do you know if it hurts anything to keep using it the way it is? I think I could probably live with 5 minutes of thumping before switching over to recirc every time I drive the car so the A/C cools it down, if I had to. I think on mine the flapping occurred when not on recirc. Safety issue was that in winter you need to have it not on recirc to keep the windshield free of fog.

[bull77]

http://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id=29575any help?

[JI737]

Thanks for all the replies, and for the link bull77, I missed that thread using search. I think I'll buy the part online, maybe have a look at it but my problem is I'm a college student with no huge cache of tools to use, so I'll have to see what I can do. At least if I buy the part myself and have the dealership install it, I'm still saving cash. What an annoying problem, and it seems like it's never as simple as just screwing something in, you have to remove the whole darn dash or radio to get it to work.

[jake75]

That part has been so trouble prone that they should cover it as a good will measure. Mine failed at about 31,000 miles but 5.5 years after purchase so no warranty. I obviously did not put much wear and tear on that part. The only other part failure on my 2003 Vibe was one of the light switches on the rear view mirror. It was acting up before the warranty ran out and I should have said something. I bought a new rear view mirror on eBay for about $35, less than half the GM part list price. That was an easy install.