GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

Hi all,

Thanks for the myriad of useful information on this forum. I've also been troubleshooting my A/C compressor with a lot of help from the threads on that, and probably other things soon.

Anyways, one thing I can't seem to find anywhere on here is an issue I'm having with my interior fan. Just recently it started making a loud clacking noise, sounds like it's coming from under the dash somewhere -- not sure where exactly the fan is located on these models. It sounds like something is overlapping and hitting something it isn't supposed to be. Does that make sense?

The strangest part about it is, when you press the cabin recirculation button -- or whatever it is, that button right below the A/C one with the graphic of the arrow circulating air evenly through the cabin -- it stops!

So for now, I just keep that thing on, but as soon as you turn it off, the clacking starts back up again. Anyone else ever have this issue? Some insight would be greatly appreciated.

2003 Base
173,000 miles

This is a common failure in these cars. There is a motor that moves a flap between fresh and recirc, and it always gets power, is always pushing. One of the gears in the thing gets a couple of stripped teeth, and it catches, then slips, then catches, then slips... making it thump until you hit the button, reverse the motor and get it working on intact gear teeth.

I know there are a lot of threads here on the issue, not sure which is best though,

One is viewtopic.php?f=28&t=45568

The thing is hard to access though