Noisy C3 heater blower fan

[charentejohn]

Just been to see a car and just about perfect all round, C3 1.4i senso with 40k miles and fsh, for here in sunny (rainy really) France that is unusual.

Only problem it has is that when first starting up the heater fan makes a knocking sound. At first I thought it was a rattle from the engine. Once it warmed up it seemed ok and the seller said a garage looked at it and recommended just living with it.

That's ok but these things tend to get worse if not fixed so how hard is it to access the fan on one of these ? (2005 model).
I will get a workshop manual but at the moment have no idea where stuff is. I assume the fan is catching something, if easy to access I can take a look myself.

Any help appreciated, we are nearly there with finally buying a car. This wouldn't put me off this one, just nice to know what to do about it.

[Andy F]

Hi

Im watching this thread with interest as my mother in laws 2005 C3 hdi makes the same noise.

I believe its the motors for the climate control in the heater box have worn. Is it a digital display for the climate? The MILs car has made this noise from purchase but heating and air con still work fine so she lives with it and just calls it her woodpecker now. When I have a free weekend ill have a look and see what access is like. In my C5 you could remove the glove box to get to the motors and is very straight forward, so hopefully this is the case in these too.

Sorry I couldnt be more helpful

Andy

[charentejohn]

Thanks for the info Andy, nice to know it is not just this car and that it is not going to fail soon. This has a digital display (I think) and off back for a final test drive and arrange purchase tomorrow. As I said not a deal breaker, then again this is a LHD one so fan is behind steering somewhere. I am currently scouring parts sites to see what the ducting looks like.

I assume yours only happens when cold too ? Could just be bearings that tighten just enough as they warm up.
We had a Renault that had a lot of thumping noises, baffles opening / closing I think, and the garage fixed it by disconnecting the mechanism controls, it was that or £600 for parts alone.

So hopefully just the fan. This one rattles (tap tap tap noise) about 10 times runs of then a few more then seems to go quiet again.

[charentejohn]

Just looked at the parts on the Service Citroen site and basically a great lump of fan and vents in the middle with tubes to either side of the car.

So why did I hear a tapping noise on the left side only ? Seemed to be from near the vent on the left side, I will listen closer next time.

Anyone have a link to an exploded diagrem of the main heater unit from the middle of the car ?
Where is the fan in this ? in the larger lower part or in the circular bit (looks like a turbo housing shape) at the back.

[Andy F]

Hi,

Yes the noise only happens when the car is cold. Im fairly sure in our case its the climate control heater flap motor engaging to adjust to the ambient temperature, and my guess is that the teeth are wearing down. My C5 had a similar problem in that the motor has metal teeth and it sits in a plastic housing so it eventually shreds the the connection on the heater housing, causing the climate control to get stuck on permanent hot on one side.

However, the C3 is a bit different as it seems to still work despite the noise. it does it only on start up and then we dont hear it until the next journey. Although sometimes pressing the AUTO button on the climate control can make the noise, but not always. The noise seems to be coming from the left of the steering wheel (RHD) between the vents and steering wheel but probably only taps about 5 times on start up

Andy

[charentejohn]

Andy, thanks for confirming the problem is only when cold, every bit of info helps.
I will try the Eco switch to see if it does it then, when we get the car that is, should be just a few days more.
Usually Eco disengages (or reduces power to) automatic air con, basically to switch it off so saving energy as not doing much in mid winter

Some of this may explain the tapping if vents are opening or closing relating to temp ? So catching the fan as they adjust themselves on startup.
It may be a while before I have a chance to investigate and it seems nobody else has experience of this so when I do I will PM you and post results here.