AC Fan grinding noise

[shonenknife]

I just bought my 2006 PT a month ago. A few weeks later, it started making this strange noise. I went to a NASCAR race, and the parking lot is a massive gravel field. The next day, I started noticing a rattling noise when turning left. I thought being in the parking lot at the race had kicked up a bunch of dirt in the wheel, and turning left was just kicking it up into the wheel well.

The next day, I didn't hear it anymore, so I thought that was it.

A week later, I started hearing it again. After listening and doing trial and error, I've noticed the following...

- It only happens when the fan is on. Not necessarily the A/C. The noise will happen if the A/C is on, the heat is on or just the fan is blowing.

- The harder the fan is blowing (4 levels), the louder the noise. If it's on 3 or 4, it'll make a horrible whining/screeching noise... like a fan belt.

- It only happens when I turn left. Not if I'm sitting still with the steering wheel turned to the left, just if I'm actually steering to the left while the car is moving.

- I'm absolutely sure it's got something to do with the blower, because if I'm mid-turn and it's making this noise, I can turn the fan off and the noise stops.

- If I make a hard left turn, like at a stoplight or sign, and the fan is blowing full-blast, sometimes the noise will keep going after I've straightened it out, like it's winding down. Then, it'll stop.

- If the blower is going full blast and you're turning all the way to the right, the noise doesn't happen at all.

- I'm almost positive it's coming from behind the dashboard. Under the hood there are no leaks or anything like that.

- Also, I often hear a sloshing sound... like a full milk bottle being shaken from behind the dashboard.

- Finally, there's nothing else wrong with the car. No other strange noises, temp is ok, etc.

Does anyone have any idea what this could be?

[Jabouty]

That sounds suspiciously like a blower fan to me. I haven't actually looked at the PTs blower before, but if it's like any of the other blowers I've done played with then it's a squirrel cage fan, and the axle that drives the fan does go bad sometimes which allows the axle to drop in and out of the motor, which then makes a clanking sound as it bounces off the motor screws. It won't do any damage to your car except for the damage that you do to it from going insane from the sound and taking a hatchet to the dash .

[shonenknife]

Does anyone know how much that is to replace/fix? Will a standard dealer 90-day warranty cover it in most cases?

[Jabouty]

Depends on the dealer, but I'd throw a full on tear-filled fit until I got my way for no cost .

[littleblueGT]

If you don't have a cabin air filter in place you could have had gravel, leaves, sticks etc. drop into the fan impeller blades. You could also have a loose mounting on the fan, and the impeller is rubbing on the housing, this is located under the glove box.

[shonenknife]

Originally Posted by littleblueGT

If you don't have a cabin air filter in place you could have had gravel, leaves, sticks etc. drop into the fan impeller blades. You could also have a loose mounting on the fan, and the impeller is rubbing on the housing, this is located under the glove box.

What's interesting about this... I pulled the glove box out because I was able to narrow the noise down to somewhere back there. When I did, I found a whole bunch of papers, a Dunkin' Donuts straw... even a roll of scotch tape that had obviously fallen from to behind the glove box. maybe tomorrow morning I'll go out there and look real close to make sure no other debris fell back there... maybe it's something simple I could just pull out.

I mean, if it's only happening when I turn left, and only when the car is moving left, it's obviously something, either debris or the fan being lose, that the inertia of a turn is causing. Maybe there's some debris back there that's loose enough to where when I turn left, it slides into the fan and grinds.