Whistling Air Vents

[g.burrows]

Hi All I am new to this site.

I have a small problem and I would be greatfull if anyone could help me. My air vent is making a whistling noise. When I turn on my fan full blast it goes away. Only when the fan is in auto mode and its low I get the whistling noise. I have cleaned out the filter but I dont know what else to do. Can anyone point me in the right direction.

Rgds Grant.......(E46 Coupe)

 

[MrElussive]

Have you tried replacing the filter? That is usually what you have to do. Also, is the whistling noise there all the time, or only while the car is warming up? Because some cars, believe it or not, actually do whistle through the climate control vents during warmup.

 

[g.burrows]

Thanks for the post

Nar its there all the time. Never thought of changing the filter as it looked ok, but i think i will change it anyway. Gotta start eliminating things.

 

[aNoodle]

My 1999 started whistling a while back. Then it just went away by itself, believe it or not. I think the blade of the fan needs some lube. Possibly...who knows. Not sure where to go since mine stopped on its own.

 

[Jonny C]

I THINK I KNOW WHAT IT IS!!

My car had the exact same noise that yours had, and it also went away on high. IT IS THE VACUUM PUMP THAT IS NOT TIGHT ENOUGH!!!!!! It took them FOREVER to find out what it was because every time I took it in it the noise went away like if the car knew it was going to get service. Tell them to look into that, i don't recall if they replaced it or if they just adjusted it but that is what it was.

 

[g.burrows]

Thanks I will look into that. Do you think I could look at it myself or do you think it might be a tad to difficult?

 

[Jonny C]

Let them take a look at it because they have to track the noise down. Just let them know to look into that because it's not a common problem, I guess I was lucky they were able to track it down at my service department. Oh and one last thing, if they say they can't find the noise tell them just to adjust the vacuum vents, or tighten them because I know for a fact that that is what it is.

 

[g.burrows]

Thanx Jonny will hopefully get it sorted soon.

 

[Jonny C]

Let me know if that was it, cause it drove me insane for a long time. Hope you got it all taken care of.

 

[g.burrows]

Hey Jonny

Had my oil service last week and decided to get them to have a look at the damn thing.
The whistling air vent was all down to a HEATER RESISTER that was faulty.

I thought I would let them tell me what was wrong wiv it and the engineer said that he 99% sure that was what it was. A week has now gone and i cant hear a thing yipeeeee.

I would like to thank you for your help. Just shows us how complex these machines really are.

Rgds Grant........

 

[aNoodle]

Hey Jonny

Had my oil service last week and decided to get them to have a look at the damn thing.
The whistling air vent was all down to a HEATER RESISTER that was faulty.

I thought I would let them tell me what was wrong wiv it and the engineer said that he 99% sure that was what it was. A week has now gone and i cant hear a thing yipeeeee.

I would like to thank you for your help. Just shows us how complex these machines really are.

Rgds Grant........

I had the vent whine come back on me for about 15 minutes about four months ago. It's really wierd. Now it's gone.

 

[ronh95]

Final stage resistor should do the trick...

My old '00 328i had the whistle that was maddening. Had it in three times and due to the intermittent nature of the whistle, they could not duplicate. Finally, it did it on their watch and they fixed it for good.

 

[aNoodle]

My old '00 328i had the whistle that was maddening. Had it in three times and due to the intermittent nature of the whistle, they could not duplicate. Finally, it did it on their watch and they fixed it for good.

So what was the fix?

 

[Jonny C]

Well i'm glad the noise was fixed, i know how it can drive you crazy.