It's a rattling squeak that comes from inside the vent to the right of the glove box - whenever the interior fans are on, I get the sound. Pressing on dash / door panels doesn't make it go away, any suggestions on where to start digging in?

FWIW, I solved a pretty good rattle by replacing the front defroster covers. This is a different one.

Dave

 

I have this squeak too... rattle squeak, especially loud when cruising at 35 mph in the city. Any thoughts from any of you out there?

oh, can you please elaborate on the defroster cover squeak?

 

Search for Surgemonster's thread about it. Basically these inside defroster panels (right at the base of the windshield) develop cracks and rub against themselves. New pieces aren't too expensive ($25/side IIRC), you just pop them in. At this point a shopvac may be a good idea to suck up any broken plastic bits that are sitting in the defroster openings.

Just make sure the parts aren't real cold when you install them or they'll be brittle.

Dave

 

I may not be understanding the nature of the squeak correctly, but...

Is the frequency of the squeak related to the blower speed? If so, it could be the blower wheel rubbing on its housing, or the bearings in the blower motor going bad (I've had a blower-motor squeak in other cars due to bad bearings).

The noise might be transmitting to the vent you mentioned due to its proximity to the blower motor.

 

Good question - I did change the fan speed - the squeaky rattle sound did not change frequency with fan speed. It seemed to get quieter when the fans were on low, and stopped when off. So I knew it wasn't necessarily the rotating parts of the fan itself.

Dave

 

Does the sound change when going from one setting to another (def to floor to vent, etc.)? It could be an air-direction flap or its control linkage vibrating, and that may help find which one it is.

 

I will try changing the air flow settings - I can't remember exactly what that did when I was fiddling with it.

That seems like what I'm after. I hope it's not too deep inside things - I'll dig into the parts lists and FSM later today.

Dave