Behind dashboard crackling noise - Blend Door actuator?

MOLLY37

MEMBER
2008 HONDA CIVIC
2WD
AUTOMATIC
147,000 MILES

The crackling noise originally would happen after a few hours of driving on the highway. The sound came from the radio buttons. When I opened my glove-box, the sound went away. Now, if I drive more than 20 MPH, I hear the noise all the time coming from above/in front of my glove box. The crackling noise is not happening all the time, only sometimes.

7 Replies

KEN L

MASTER CERTIFIED MECHANIC
42,895 POSTS

Hello,

It sounds like something is loose and is affected by the wind. Is the noise inside or outside the car? Can you please shoot a quick video with your phone so we can hear the noise? That would be great. You can upload it here with your response. Cheers, Ken

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Wednesday, October 17th, 2018 AT 10:37 AM

MOLLY37

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The noise does not happen often enough, so Ia m not sure when I will be able to shoot the video. The noise is inside the car.

Also worth noting, every time my air is on, a buzzing noise comes from the vent. It does not matter the temperature or what vent is blowing, the buzzing always happens.

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Wednesday, October 17th, 2018 AT 2:53 PM

KEN L

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This sounds like you have a blend door actuator that is making the noise. (I had to see if the noise was inside or not) Here is a guide that will walk you through the steps and the locations of the actuators for your car. You will need to putt your hand on them to see which one is making the noise.

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/replace-blend-door-motor

I would remove the glove box door so you can get at the actuators.

Check out the diagrams (below). Please let us know what you find. We are interested to see what it is.

Cheers, Ken

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Thursday, October 18th, 2018 AT 9:53 AM

MOLLY37

MEMBER
4 POSTS

Attached is a video of the sound. Let me know if you still think it is the blend door actuator.

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Friday, October 19th, 2018 AT 7:00 AM

KEN L

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Thanks for the video. That is not a blend door it sounds like the blower motor has something stuck in it like a piece of plastic/paper. Does it change with the blower speed? It could be a relay that is going out as well does all electrical components seem to work okay? Lets remove the glove box door to get a better idea of where the noise is coming from use the diagrams from above to remove the door.