Ticking sound, source located but dont know what it is

[Buckas]

Hey guys, my car developed this loud ticking when the ignition is turned on behind the dash. It turns off after, i dunno, 15 to 20 secs

After unplugging the radio, then aircon, then haltech and having no luck i found the source.

This is the area were looking at:

Unfortunately im on a mac and have nfi how to use it so dunno how to put a little red circle round the problem. To the right of the cooling unit theres the white outlet? Its the back box below it.

It has this rod on the underside of it which is moving/getting stuck maybe and causing the ticking

video here, not sure if itll work

can someone in the knowhow please let me know what im dealing with and how to fix it?

thanks for the help

 

[Scottie]

Before removing the A/C Controls, have you tried changing the vent output or fan speed?

 

[Buckas]

yeh tried that and it didnt change. i may have been a little paranoid but the ticking seemed a little faster when the engine was started, as opposed to just with the ignition on

 

[naughtika]

its a time bomb! j/k

but seriously, i think its the same problem that Pete_D had just fixed.. check under the thread "what work did you do on your car" i think he just posted it there..

 

[Peter_D]

Yeap that's it. It's a small back plastic box with gears and a motor in it. This thing changes the positions of the vents. Undo the three screws holding it in place then the small screw holding the arm in place. Unplug and take the thing out of the car.
I opened it up, it just clips together, careful they break real easy, and have a close look. You'll see that one of the small gears has lost a tooth.
What I did next was to use some spare wires and a variable power supply and hook the thing up to 9 volts, I checked the voltage whilst it was still in the car.
Be very observant when removing the gears. Find the one with the missing tooth and reposition it so the missing tooth doesn't engage at all.
Test it to make sure that it doesn't click any more. If it does pull the gears out and try again. Once you are sure that it isn't clicking put the top back on and re-install in the car and everything should be good.
cheers

 

[Buckas]

awesome thanks mate ill give it a crack today

 

[Buckas]

hey pete i dont suppose you got the ampage while you were there? and what sort of variable power supply did you use? wasnt too keen on one of the $150 laboratory ones from dick smith.

 

[Peter_D]

You can just use a nine volt battery. It should do the trick.
The motor is a 9 volt motor which you can buy from most hobby stores.

No I didn't check the amps as it would be very low. If I recall the amp meter didn't even move off the peg. The power supply is a ICOM PS-300 30 amp / 20 volt supply. Which I use with my HAM Radio equipment. Don't know the resistance value of the motor so I can't work out the amps.

 

[Buckas]

hey pete when you say small screw holding the arm in place, where is the screw? my eyes are a bit crappy and i cant find it.

also is the car driveable if this thing is out and i cant fix it today? if so should i be pulling a fuse or something?

cheers

 

[Peter_D]

Dan I've just had a look at Mel's Series 1 and compared it to my series 2 and there is a slight difference. Yours wont have the small screw I mentioned. I'm guessing that the control arm has a plastic clip holding it in place. It should be just a matter of using the right amount of pressure to get it to unclip.

In the above picture where I've marked it as screw is the location of the screw holding the arm in place. As you can see yours doesn't have that screw. Below it is what appears to be some sort of clip. You should be able to release this clip and then turn the box around so the 90 degree bend pops out of the retainer.

As for your other question it should be OK for you to drive around with the wiring disconnected. I did it with no probs.

cheers

 

[Buckas]

thanks mate, just got it out. once the clip is released you just keep twisting the clip and it pulls the arm out, no need to turn the box.

thanks for making up for my asian eye, big help. didnt wana pull too much cause i thought there was a screw holding it somewhere haha

 

[Buckas]

managed to break just the one clip opening her up, then all 3 gears jumped out onto the floor had to figure out how to put it back together but got it sorted, there was a tooth missing on the big white gear, only one spot it could sit without being used.

ive got it back in the car now and theres no ticking and no noise when i change the vent positioning etc, and it all works fine, the air is all redirected.

is that all that the unit does? i just want to make sure that its all good and that i didnt break anything else putting the box back together and that it hasnt just stopped working all together now, it was a bit of a squeeze putting the motor between the gears

 

[Peter_D]

As long as the air is being re-directed as you touch the control everything is good.

 

[Guest]

So wat do u have to remove to get to it??? The glovebox or the centre console area??? My car ticks for about 30 seconds on startup and seems to be coming from glovebox climate control area!!!

 

[Guest]

no it is defiently in the dash, if i doesn't do it straight away it will do it when i drive, but if i put air con on while it is clicking it will stop

 

[Buckas]

have a look in the guides section for locating your ecu.

basically the following have to come out:

-unscrew the plastic panel left of the glove box
-unscrew the glovebox and take it out
-unscrew the panel on the right of the glove box, screw up top right of glove box i think and screw & clip down below

you will now have the view as seen in the previous photos. to make life easier i:
-unscrewed the cross member behind the glovebox
-took out the centre console and radio to get at the screws on the right of the unit (you could probably take out the panels on the right to get to them but i prefer the centre and radio)
-to get to the screw on the top right of the box you may have to take out the cross member behind the radio (metal) and remove a bolt holding a couple of plugs in place to get a screw driver in there.

then, remove the 3 screws (top left, top right and underneath) and the arm, depending on pre-fl/fl as said earlier

if you havent taken your car apart before it can take a while but ive taken mine apart for stereo, o2 sensor, haltech etc etc so otherwise it takes like 5-10 mins to pull apart.

ask questions if you get stuck, souds like the same problem

 

[Guest]

had the air con disconnected today and the clicking doesn't happen.. will do the glovebox and side panels tomorrow, i can't get one of the screws out for the stezza...So will glovebox and side panels give me the access i need???

 

[Buckas]

might be difficult to access the right screw. you could do it with the right screw driver, i just didnt have it.

 

[Guest]

Well i took the side panel off closest to centre console and was able to pull plug out. No more ticking and air con works fine

 

[Buckas]

yeh my aircon worked fine too, i believe it was the heater that it wouldve affected