I just noticed earlier today that whenever my 2012 M37x is on, idling, and I also have the climate control on, a very faint scraping/hissing noise can be heard coming from the front AC vent. It's a very light noise and almost sounds as if it's cycling or oscillating. It almost sounds like a piece of metal scraping very lightly. I haven't heard it when driving, but that could just be because of road/wind noise. As far as I can tell, the climate control system is working just fine, although I've only used its heating function (not for cold/AC yet ) during the short period of time I've owned the car.

Does anyone know what the cause of this noise could be? Is it an actual problem or just a normal artifact of the climate control system's functioning?

 

Do you have the deluxe touring package? If so you might be hearing the actuator for the forest air mode...if the button with the tree is on turn it off and see if you still hear the noise.

 

Thanks for responding. Yeah, I do have the Deluxe Touring package. I forgot to mention in my original post that I do still hear it even when the Forest Air function is turned off. Do you know if this is a normal sound? The temperature was set to 78-81 (within that range) at the time.

 

I'd get the dealer to check it out but it could just be the servos/actuators that are operating the blend doors...directing the air from floor to dash vents as needed...

 

I did a test today on my M, engine running/engine off, Auto/Manual control, A/C vs Heat, Low and High fan speed, etc .... I did not hear a sound. Perhaps a long shot but maybe a leaf got sucked into the system and is touching the fan slightly. Maybe take the opportunity to replace the cabin filter and look in there.

 

Thanks for trying to reproduce the phenomenon on your own M37. I tried to re-produce it myself today, and now I think it sounds more like air being "whispered" or secreted. In other words.... it's probably just what an air conditioner sounds like! LOL

 

G-Man....do you have the forest air feature too? I'm asking because I think there is an additional piece in the duct system for forest air and it seems to produce a slightly different noise for the flow of air than the regular one...I have a friend that also has forest air and his sounded like mine...its not loud but a different noise....just wondering...

Now....the seat ventilation...that's a different story...mine is loud and vibrating the entire seat...going to have the dealer check on it when I go in for 60k...

 

Yes, I have Forest Air and I still did not notice any unusual noise. Sounds like something is deffinetly wrong with the seat ventilation, mine is very quiet. Two features I LOVE on the M may sound gimicky at first but once you use them .... Forrest Air and Heated steering wheel are fantastic!

 

No problem ... now my Xterra has a noise at lower fan levels that drives me nuts. I had a new bathroom fan installed, a humidity sensing one (BTW, these are fantastic, everyone should install one in their bathrooms with showers). It too had this clicking type fan noise, opened it up and it was a curly piece of plastic, like they shave off the edges of injection molding still stuck to the seem of the fan and was hitting the blades, made the fan sound out of round. Plucked it off and good to go. I'm hoping it's something as simple as that, just haven't felt like taking it in.

 

Yeah...my passenger side is whisper quiet and I checked the ones in my QX last night and they are whisper quiet as well...I have them check it out when I go in. for service in a few weeks...lol