Air vents "whoosh" sound

[dbsb3233]

I think there may be a problem with my air flow/vents. They sound a little like a leaf blower. Even when I dial the fan manually down to just "1", I hear an unusually loud "whoosh" of air sound coming from inside the dash area, as though there's a shutter or diverter in the vents that's trying to close but isn't quite sealing. Kind of like the sound you get when you leave a window open just a crack and you hear the whoosh of air squeezing through.

It only goes away when I dial the fan to "0". Even just "1" makes a rather loud whoosh, far louder than I'd expect. Almost all-or-nothing, as it doesn't seem to get much louder at high fan speeds. The airflow coming out of the vents seems correct though (changes as I'd expect with fan speeds), but the whoosh sound stays pretty consistently loud unless I turn the fan completely off.

It's similar with the rear vents too. They're very loud. I always turn them off when I get in the car because it's quite distracting. And they seem to come back on automatically nearly every time I start the car back up. (And yes, I've checked to make sure the vent flow slats are all open.)

Does it sound that way to everyone else too? That just doesn't seem normal. I can never hear a whoosh like that in any of my other cars unless I turn the fan way up.

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[krissrock]

I think the thing is to make sure they're all "synced" or turned down... So that if it's at max, and you turn the front down...you gotta make sure the rear is also turned down or "synced"
Generally that's how i realize the rear is on at all...is cuz i keep the front low, but i still hear the fans...

also the seat fans are loud...so if you have them on, you're gonna hear it

Otherwise, no, if all are low, i can't hear anything at all...

 

[PrudentOcean]

Check if the air vents in the rear are on, I noticed that the system gets noticeably louder then. If nobody is sitting in the back I make sure the rear vents are off.

 

[dbsb3233]

Check if the air vents in the rear are on, I noticed that the system gets noticeably louder then. If nobody is sitting in the back I make sure the rear vents are off.

I do. Those things are annoyingly loud. I often have to turn those completely off each drive. But even after turning those off, I can toggle the front fans from 0 (dead silent) to just 1 and the significant "whoosh" from inside the dash comes on.

It's not SUPER loud, but still very noticeable. Annoyingly so. Not like any other car I've had on low fan speed. And it sounds like it's coming from inside the dash rather than the vent openings themselves.

Just trying to figure out if they all do that or I need a trip to the dealer.

 

[dbsb3233]

I think the thing is to make sure they're all "synced" or turned down... So that if it's at max, and you turn the front down...you gotta make sure the rear is also turned down or "synced"
Generally that's how i realize the rear is on at all...is cuz i keep the front low, but i still hear the fans...

also the seat fans are loud...so if you have them on, you're gonna hear it

Otherwise, no, if all are low, i can't hear anything at all...

They are, but yes, that's the way it sounds... like the fan is on high speed inside the dash, and there's a damper that's trying to close and cut off the flow... but isn't sealing completely and there's a leakage "whoosh".

Or at least that's the way it sounds.

 

[SandyHaus]

You've probably already done this but there are also settings on the Climate Menu screen for "Strong" or "Soft". Perhaps Soft would be more to your liking.

Sandy

 

[fubar.droid]

The loud air noise you're hearing is basically the combination of the entire cabin's airflow. It seems the air is funneled from behind the instrument cluster somewhere to the entire cabin so even if the driver's vents are low, if you have air flowing in the other seats, it'll be loud to the driver. Only solution is to reduce airflow to the rear/passenger. It's a poor design for sure.

 

[dbsb3233]

You've probably already done this but there are also settings on the Climate Menu screen for "Strong" or "Soft". Perhaps Soft would be more to your liking.

Sandy

Yes, tried that and it did lower the rear air noise some when still on. Didn't help the front dash whoosh though.

I haven't found a way to keep the rear climate permanently off yet. Could be in part because we have 2 drivers frequently using the car (switching between profiles), but still, I turn it off in both and it still seems to turn itself back on most of the time on next drives.

 

[dbsb3233]

also the seat fans are loud...so if you have them on, you're gonna hear it

The seat fans are barely noticeable in 1 or 2, but yeah, 3 is noticeably loud. We usually stick to 1 or 2.

 

[PrudentOcean]

While you can control the rear climate settings from the PCM, those settings don’t seem to stick across drive cycles. You need to use the physical controls in the rear if you want the rear vents to remain off.

 

[dbsb3233]

While you can control the rear climate settings from the PCM, those settings don’t seem to stick across drive cycles. You need to use the physical controls in the rear if you want the rear vents to remain off.

Ugh, that sounds like a bug. But thanks, I'll try that. So far I've just been doing it from the PCM.

These software bugs continue to be aggravating, but that's life with most new EVs. Looks like the software is gonna be equally flaky with the Lucid Gravity we have on order.

Fortunately the good significantly outweighs the bad with both EVs.

 

[krissrock]

I think the rear vents will stay at the last level they were put on, UNLESS you hit sync...
but if you're hearing noise at almost level...maybe that is something you should get check out

 

[sor]

If you turn the climate setting to auto and adjust the temperature instead, it is a lot quieter. And that’s not to say it doesn’t blow as hard, you get plenty of air depending on the speed setting in the climate menu. I haven’t really investigated why that is but the fans are loud in manual mode even if you turn them down.

 

[sor]

Weird, I hopped in my car and could not make it misbehave. I know at one point a passenger adjusted the fan manually and it got loud, and it went away when I just put it back on auto. Can’t reproduce it right now.

The “soft” and “strong” settings are only fine tunings of the auto mode, not applicable to manual fan speed adjustment, and I wouldn’t say either one is loud for the air you get.

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