AC Whisling?

[wahoossi]

I am in the midst of a several thousand mile journey in my 4Runner starting near Jax , Fl, 1st taking my son to see his eye specialist in Cincinnati, then heading to drop him off to start his junior year of college in New Haven , Conn., then heading up to Boston to drop visit my daughter whose starting a job with IBM in Cambridge, Mass, only to turn around and head back to Jax. The 4Runner is doing great except for one thing that is driving me crazy. The AC whistle which is progressively worse at higher fan speeds. I did a search on this site which led me to change the cabin air filter with no improvement (although the musky smell in the car improved). I have tried exploring as much of the ventilation tubing as I could get to without finding any visible (obvious) issues. Anybody have any ideas to give me a hand . It is 90+ degrees here in Ohio and 95 with 98 % humidity back home. AC on full blast is a must and this is driving me crazy unless I am really cranking the audio system. Thanks.

 

[jt_3212]

Do you have all the air vents completely open? It may seem obvious but wanted to throw it out there. I know my fan is considerably louder when a couple vents are shut off or more closed, which happens often after my wife rides in it. I'd even check the rear vents, especially if you were moving people, maybe a box or something closed one down.

 

[nevada]

I am in the midst of a several thousand mile journey in my 4Runner starting near Jax , Fl, 1st taking my son to see his eye specialist in Cincinnati, then heading to drop him off to start his junior year of college in New Haven , Conn., then heading up to Boston to drop visit my daughter whose starting a job with IBM in Cambridge, Mass, only to turn around and head back to Jax. The 4Runner is doing great except for one thing that is driving me crazy. The AC whistle which is progressively worse at higher fan speeds. I did a search on this site which led me to change the cabin air filter with no improvement (although the musky smell in the car improved). I have tried exploring as much of the ventilation tubing as I could get to without finding any visible (obvious) issues. Anybody have any ideas to give me a hand . It is 90+ degrees here in Ohio and 95 with 98 % humidity back home. AC on full blast is a must and this is driving me crazy unless I am really cranking the audio system. Thanks.

Do you have all the air vents completely open? It may seem obvious but wanted to throw it out there. I know my fan is considerably louder when a couple vents are shut off or more closed, which happens often after my wife rides in it. I'd even check the rear vents, especially if you were moving people, maybe a box or something closed one down.

agreed. the only time I get that whistling, is when the vents are closed.

 

[ThomasS]

Same thing as others said, I only get the whistling when one of the other vents is closed.

 

[rigtec]

"...The 4Runner is doing great except for one thing that is driving me crazy. The AC whistle which is progressively worse at higher fan speeds..."

Hi wahoossi,

Based upon your observations (factoring the 13 yr age of the blower), and the sound being relatively proportionate to the different fan speeds... my guess would be that the fan motor bearings are beginning to wear and becoming 'somewhat noisy'; just my 0.00002 cents!

rigtec, cheers

 

[wahoossi]

All the vents are open. The fan motor bearings could be the issue. Is that something I can fairly easily access to replace? I have replaced the stereo etc so I have no trouble dropping the dash. How do you access it? If it is replaceable, does anyone know the part # or approximate cost? Thanks.