jonathancl

It's been a while since I posted a problem thread because my car is awesome. Seventy thousand miles with no operational issues.

A few months ago I noticed an extra cabin noise associated with the climate control system (turn it off, noise disappears).

I removed the cabin air filter and could hear the noise very clearly from the blower motor/vicinity. It's a whisper sound that's tied to the rotation of the blower, as though it needed lubrication or was rubbing against something slightly. The sound is periodic, as though made once per revolution of the blower blades. It is not loud: it is not audible over the stereo at a reasonable volume, but it is loud enough to hear over road noise at 65. (The blower, btw, spins with a great deal of torque and should never be touched whilst in motion. I say this from recent experience.)

The sound doesn't always occur, usually only after the car has been running several minutes, and if I turn the blower off, it stops. When I turn the blower on again, it often takes thirty seconds or so for the noise to return.

Has anyone experienced this? What did you do to fix it?
Any ideas or things to try or check?
If it is the blower, do I really need to take the whole bleeding dash apart to work on it, or can I get to it from underneath the glove box?

IS0LD0UT

iTrader: (1)

In my last 2 lexus I had to have the blower motors replaced under warranty. They were making the same noise as you describe.

GWELEX

I wonder if it could be debris. When I changed out my filter I found tons of long needle pine needles in there, a real mess. I didn't have any noise issues and it was a mess, so I'm leaning towards the other poster suggestions that it could be the motor beginning to go.

jonathancl

No additional comments on this?

lyonkster

This is probably not what you have (you'd know if it were), but we once picked up a mouse in our LS400. It started out as a soft whisper with the AC on, as we drove from Utah to Vegas. Next morning we opened the door and almost passed out - had to drive from Vegas to LA in 108 degree heat without AC and with the windows open, that's how bad the stench was. The LExus dealer said that it was common to have rodents climb into the duct system, charming...

Leon

jonathancl

Hmm... No it's not a rodent. But thank you so much for the story.