ticking from dashboard

dyu1211 · Post by **dyu1211** » 21 Oct 2010, 16:24

I can clearly hear the intermittent ticking noise from dashboard behind the steering wheel area. It is very similar to the water trickling sound. In the beginning I thougt this is only happened when car is moving but recently I stil can hear it when stop.

Took the car to the dealer, unfortunetly we can not hear the noise while test drive.

The shop foreman played the a/c panel and looked like the noise is coming out occasionly. he said this might be related to a/c water pipe in evaportor...something like that. But I feel the noise is from inside of dashboard not from the engin compartment...any pipe in the dashboard?

Would anyone know what is this noise? pretty annoying....

Thanks,

Daniel
2009 xc90 3.2.

Post by **billofdurham** » 22 Oct 2010, 12:30

Welcome to Matthew's Volvo Site.

The evaporator is behind the dash, not in the engine compartment. There is a drain hose beneath the evaporator which drains off excess moisture from the outside of the evaporator and allows it to drop under the car. Possibly this was what he meant.

Bill.

Post by **songzunhuang** » 23 Oct 2010, 17:37

You are not going crazy. My V70 T5 does the same thing!

It sometimes ticks very clearly and it doesn't matter if the AC is on or off. When I replaced the evap core of the car, I looked all over the place for anything that could be the culprit and I couldn't find anything. I thought it might be one of the flaps that redirects the airflow because when I manually tapped it, it made a ticking noise. So I put some epoxy on it to tighten up a loose portion where it rotates. Well, that did nothing.

So my ticking is still there. It doesn't do it very often, but when it does it drives me crazy.
I wish I knew what it was. It sounds to me like it's coming from behind the dash right between the center vents and the glove compartment. There's no way it's in the engine compartment. It's too clear a sound to be muffled through the firewall.

I hope someone chimes in and gives us a clue.

dyu1211 · Post by **dyu1211** » 23 Oct 2010, 22:59

It looks the noise is from the dash right behind the steering wheel.... Is that the evaporator location?

Post by **billofdurham** » 24 Oct 2010, 11:59

The evaporator sits to the left side of the dash, not directly behind the steering wheel, but near enough for the noise to appear to be coming from there.

Bill.

dyu1211 · Post by **dyu1211** » 29 Oct 2010, 10:59

Is there anyway I can see inside of dashboard right behind the steering wheel area? I am confused maybe the noise is not from evaporator (not sure yet)....

claymore850 · Post by **claymore850** » 29 Oct 2010, 22:28

Start checking the AC/ gas pipes in the firewall, maybe one is knocking the border.

If your fan start to make noises when you make a fast turn, maybe you AC box inside the car (the one who envolves the evaportator) has the drain clogged, and it filled with water. To check remove the carpet from the right side, and remove the one torx bolt near the gearbox knob, it lets you seen the black rubber pipe who drains the water..if your car is running without air filter, some debris, dust, and tree folds came inside and cloggs the drain..remove the connector in the center floor , start the AC, some air has to run over the drain pipe, and some water (be prepared with some towels) (my car drains about 2 liters).. or if its clogged try with low pressure air (25 psi enough)...

Esnoyer · Post by **Esnoyer** » 31 Oct 2010, 12:07

My V70 03 has a ticking sound as well, it soulds like a clock. the sound seems to come from the centre of the dash.
Could it be an alarm timer,no luck asking the VOLVO dealer..they never hear that much,only obvious costly items ,even then the repair can be the wrong guess.$$$$

dyu1211 · Post by **dyu1211** » 02 Nov 2010, 17:02

Yes, I am totally lost with this noise...can not figure out the root cause and the exact location making this noise...bad....

Esnoyer · Post by **Esnoyer** » 08 Nov 2010, 14:43

Just A thought, Could it be an alarm timer,I give up as well??? regardless my sound seems to be in tthe centre of the dash..
It does't do it all of the time,only often enough to bug me..Another thought .. Could it be a timer that times the blower fan that makes the blowers come on when needed to dry out the AC system??? Regardles it sounds like a clock ticking,Not drips