Possible diy “fix” for whistling noise coming from AC recirculation

[DuoRivians]

I think I found a possible “fix” for the whistling noise that comes from the AC when recirculation is on. I quote “fix” because it gets rid of the whistling at the possible sake of not creating a perfect seal (when recirc is on).

What to buy:
- Foam strip from Home Depot. I like this one because the foam is super soft and conforms to varying pressure on it:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/M-D-Bui...e-Weatherseal-for-Uneven-Gaps-03110/313961254

Steps:
1. Set AC on like this. Level 1, recirculation OFF.

2. Enable camp mode, so the AC stays on, while you’re outside of the car.

3. Open the hood and take off the plastic panel to reveal the air filter.

4. Lift up air intake plastic cover and take out the air filter. Then, place the air filter holder frame back in its place. Should look like this:

5. Careful here. Cut out strips of the foam, and stick them into the three sides as shown in red here. There will be a plastic ridge. The picture shows the results after I’ve placed the foam. Try to be clean and not have any sticky backside of the foam exposed

The AC fan is adjacent. Be careful of your fingers!

6. Go back into the car, and turn recirculation ON. You should notice the plastic piece rotate to close the vent from the outside. This is just an FYI.

7. Put air filter back, vent plastic in its place, and cover back.

This got rid of the whistling noise for me! So relieved!

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[teacherdoc]

Thanks for posting. Did the Service Center offer to do a fix like this for you as well?

 

[DuoRivians]

Thanks for posting. Did the Service Center offer to do a fix like this for you as well?

I didn’t bother with the service center. This fix worked and it looked like the entire front dash would need to be removed to get to this part. More worried about entire disassembly and reassembly, and something further going wrong.

For this project, I’ve actually revisited. Only the vertically placed foam stripe is necessary. That got rid of the noise entirely too. I wanted to do the minimal adjustment and still achieve my goal here.

Let me know if you have any questions.

 

[teacherdoc]

Thanks! Can you post a picture of that? Or use the old one and highlight what you did ?
any theoretical risk of the strip breaking off and getting into your hvac system?
appreciate your help!

 

[DuoRivians]

Thanks! Can you post a picture of that? Or use the old one and highlight what you did ?
any theoretical risk of the strip breaking off and getting into your hvac system?
appreciate your help!

In my picture above with the red highlights, just apply the foam strip on the vertical red line. Ignore the two horizontal ones.

You’ll feel a ridge inside. Use that as your guide.

I don’t think there’s a risk of something getting into the hvac system after properly putting the foam on.

But, during the foam attachment, be careful to avoid small pieces of the foam getting loose. Eg.Apply a clean cut using scissors with one go.

 

[Aag12]

Fwiw I just completed my mobile service for the whistling and it sounded like they did something similar to fix it. Tech says hvac fan sucks air through the system somewhere and creates a whistling.

The tech also removed the cover on top of the air filter.

 

[AZTes2Riv]

I think I found a possible “fix” for the whistling noise that comes from the AC when recirculation is on. I quote “fix” because it gets rid of the whistling at the possible sake of not creating a perfect seal (when recirc is on).

What to buy:
- Foam strip from Home Depot. I like this one because the foam is super soft and conforms to varying pressure on it:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/M-D-Bui...e-Weatherseal-for-Uneven-Gaps-03110/313961254

Steps:
1. Set AC on like this. Level 1, recirculation OFF.

2. Enable camp mode, so the AC stays on, while you’re outside of the car.

3. Open the hood and take off the plastic panel to reveal the air filter.

4. Lift up air intake plastic cover and take out the air filter. Then, place the air filter holder frame back in its place. Should look like this:

5. Careful here. Cut out strips of the foam, and stick them into the three sides as shown in red here. There will be a plastic ridge. The picture shows the results after I’ve placed the foam. Try to be clean and not have any sticky backside of the foam exposed

The AC fan is adjacent. Be careful of your fingers!

6. Go back into the car, and turn recirculation ON. You should notice the plastic piece rotate to close the vent from the outside. This is just an FYI.

7. Put air filter back, vent plastic in its place, and cover back.

This got rid of the whistling noise for me! So relieved!

Hey, thank you for posting this as I’ve been plagued by the whistle. I’ve applied the suggested foam in probably 10 different variations but I still have the whistle over 70mph. Before the foam it was over 40mph. Did this fix truly kill the whistle at all speeds for you? Thanks!

 

[DuoRivians]

Hey, thank you for posting this as I’ve been plagued by the whistle. I’ve applied the suggested foam in probably 10 different variations but I still have the whistle over 70mph. Before the foam it was over 40mph. Did this fix truly kill the whistle at all speeds for you? Thanks!

Yeah I don’t have the whistle sound whatsoever now

 

[AZTes2Riv]

Yeah I don’t have the whistle sound whatsoever now

Weird. I’ve done only the vertical part like you mentioned. Full piece top to bottom right where the door closes. Any other ideas?

 

[DuoRivians]

Weird. I’ve done only the vertical part like you mentioned. Full piece top to bottom right where the door closes. Any other ideas?

Sorry no clue. Maybe your issue is a bit different from mine? Try a service ticket?

 

[Aag12]

Fwiw I just completed my mobile service for the whistling and it sounded like they did something similar to fix it. Tech says hvac fan sucks air through the system somewhere and creates a whistling.

The tech also removed the cover on top of the air filter.

Well the fix didn't work. I took it apart to look at what they did and it was slightly different. They used a black 2" wide tape to seal the plastic filter housing gap. The plastic housing right in front of the op's proposed fix area.

Either way it didn't work and I'm going to try this fix this week!

 

[Aag12]

For anyone doing this themselves be careful when applying the foam strip. After I installed it, I opened/closed the vent and the strip fell and got sucked by the fan. Fan got real loud and was obvious what happened.

I had to turn off everything and had to manually open the vent to pull the strip out of the fan. Not a huge deal, but I got worried it got sucked in very deep, but luckily the fan blades are close enough apart to catch the foam strip.

Could have been poor adhesive, or maybe I didn't secure it enough, but hopefully others can learn from my mistake.

TBD if this works, but will know this weekend

 

[TRap015]

For anyone doing this themselves be careful when applying the foam strip. After I installed it, I opened/closed the vent and the strip fell and got sucked by the fan. Fan got real loud and was obvious what happened.

I had to turn off everything and had to manually open the vent to pull the strip out of the fan. Not a huge deal, but I got worried it got sucked in very deep, but luckily the fan blades are close enough apart to catch the foam strip.

Could have been poor adhesive, or maybe I didn't secure it enough, but hopefully others can learn from my mistake.

TBD if this works, but will know this weekend

how do you keep the vent open with the fan off?? If I turned off AC, the vent closes by itself. And if I turned on AC, the fan would be spinning.

 

[Aag12]

how do you keep the vent open with the fan off?? If I turned off AC, the vent closes by itself. And if I turned on AC, the fan would be spinning.

Just manually opened it. Nothing seemed to break as it opens/closes as expected afterwards

 

[TRap015]

Just manually opened it. Nothing seemed to break as it opens/closes as expected afterwards

Was it easy to open or you need to force it open? Btw, I found it extremely difficult to access that area cuz I’m only 5’6”. Any suggestion to make it less painful?? Wonder if the frunk can hold my weight so I could hop in. ?

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