I just got my car back (2001 Eclipse Spyder) after being repaired from an accident. I have a new ticking/motor sound in the dash right behind the clock. It happens when the car is cold. About 30 seconds to a minute after starting the car the noise starts and it sounds like a motor trying to move something that is stuck (kind of a ticking or mild grinding noise [slipping plastic gear?]). It does it for about 15-20 seconds then stops. About a minute later, it runs again for about 10 seconds. Then a few minutes later it does it for about 5 seconds. After that it stops until the next time the car has been sitting for a couple of hours. I thought it could be the DVD player (even though the sound of changing disks is different), so I took out all the disks and that didn't make a difference.

It does sound like a small motor running, and as mentioned, maybe it can't move whatever its trying to move. Are there and blend doors or vent control doors in the dash that are electric. I thought it was all cable driven? Just a new, unidentified sound I need to track down. If I can figure it out, I may be able to have the collision shot look at repairing it. Something appears to be trying to accomplish something that it can't, but it's a mystery to me.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

 

I am starting to think it might be the Heater Control Motor that turns the hot water on and off to the heater core. In summer, I get "hotter" than outside air coming through the vents with the AC off. I have to change to recirculate to keep the hot air from coming in. And, I have been having a problem with heat in winter. Heat works until I start driving then cools down (mostly on driver's side). Like several have discussed on this forum, I have been thinking I had a heater core issue and have flushed the core (runs clean). Speaking with a service tech at a dealership, if the valve is not working properly, it COULD be causing the problem. Just wondering if anyone has heard this sound as the result of this valve failing? Anyone else had the heating issue (cold on drivers side when driving) that turned out not to be a dirty heater core, but rather this valve not working properly?

It's a MAJOR deal to replace, so I want to make sure I'm on the right track.

 

Sounds like a blend door is going bad. Does the noise go away when you change the temp or change the air flow modes?

 

The blend door seems to be cable driven (not motor driven). Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't see any blend door motor in the schematics.