Auto Air Conditioning & Heater Repair/Heater/A.C Repair

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Expert: - 2/9/2011


Question
I have an 09 CHevy Impala. When I turn on the heat & or AC (Dual Climate) I have a loud popping or clicking noise coming from the front. WHat could this be?

Answer
Is the vehicle still under warranty? We have a 3 year warranty period in the UK. If you are the same I would wheel it along to the dealer and take the hire car while they sort it out!

It sound as if the heater flaps that dictate the direction of the airflow are sticking, it could also be the re-circulation flap that opens and closes on a plastic worm drive, although your vehicle is a bit young for all of this.

As an experiment, if you have an 'auto' setting on the heater controls switch it off so you can control the climate manually.
Make sure the engine is running on idle and close all the doors and windows so you can hear what is going on inside he vehicle

Turn the fan on to the second setting and then turn the air direction from defrost down through the various other settings until you reach the floor. Also check whether there is air coming out through your chosen setting, can you hear any repetitive clicking now ?
If you can then that will be the answer, I guess you leave the climate on full auto most of the time. This allows the system to decide for itself where the air should go and will move the flaps accordingly

'One off' clicks could be a relay.  

Auto Air Conditioning & Heater Repair

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Paul Evans/ www.chillywillys.org

Expertise

Any question related to the function or malfunction of vehicle air conditioning excluding model specific problems with the heater controls. We are a UK based company and are unlikely to be familiar with the exact make and model of American vehicles. We will always at least try to guide the owner towards what the problem is likely to be in this instance We may struggle with none specific electrical issues related to the a/c without seeing it but it is likely we could narrow the problem down

Experience

Director www.chillywillys.org specialising predominantly in UK vehicles, fleet, rare and collectables. Although all a/c works on the same principal US vehicles have different controls and electrics. 12 years experience automotive and aircraft air conditioning. This is our sole source of revenue, we see lots of a/c issues that we are able to diagnose accurately mainly down to experience. UK have garages caught on to a potential revenue stream within the last few years but sometimes struggle with the problems as they don't see the issues that often........to be fair they could get their own back and ask me to change a timing belt ! Certain vehicles have known issues, we can help with that and also anything that is obvious to us but not necessarily to the bamboozled owner....... a/c is relatively new here and owners are catching on to maintenance but are sometimes still misguided by inexperienced individuals a bit timid to say' I don't really know

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