Whistling Noise at Speed

[Meat742]

Hello All, new to the site and have not found this issue on here before so I am hoping that someone might be able to help. I find that I get a whistling wind noise at speed (60 + mph) which sounds as though it is a faulty door seal on the front passenger side. However, to add another factor, and hopefully not a red herring, I am sure that the noise disappears if I select recirculating air on the climate control panel. Other things are that when the air on is on and at a low blower setting, I can clearly hear what I would call the 'fridge type' noises of gurgling coolant. When the aircon is set to auto (low setting) it will sound as though it favours the passenger side and starts to 'roar' slightly on that side. I thought the low setting was supposed to be quiet.

The car is less than a month old and is fantastic in every other respect. It has been into my local Dutch Skoda dealer who have been great but have had to ask Skoda for help. The car is UK spec and UK sourced. I thought that I might take a chance and see if anyone can help steer us towards where to look for this annoying problem. thanks

[dstev2000]

The gurgling noise is the liquid refrigerant boiling off as it passes through the evaporator. This is a normal noise.

The recirc damper is (IIRC) behind the glovebox so any noise would come from that area on a RHD car.

Also, the pollen filter is located in the passenger footwell, there is an access door for it and if it hasn't been fitted correctly could make a whistling noise.

The filter is accessed by removing a piece of thin foam like material and 2 plastic fixings, the filter hatch slides across to the side, it kight have a torx screw but not 100% as it's been a while since I changed a 3T pollen/cabin filter. I believe the recirc damper is accessed by removing the glovebox. Beware the airbag deactivation switch can trigger a fault if disconnected.

Has the dealer tried resetting the damper limits for the climatronic? One of them could be 'lost'.

[Meat742]

dstev2000, many thanks for your help. I have had a look at the pollen filter and you are quite correct in that it is a sliding cover without a Torx screw. I have refitted the filter and cover but the cover does seem to have a little too much play In it for my liking. I was a expecting a tight fit. The end nearest the centre console is tight but the end near the passenger door can move perpendicular to the latch direction. I can also compress the cover against the filter on the door side. It is almost as though the filter base is not thick enough.

Re your other advice, I will get the mechanics to look at that. No sense me knackering anything up whilst it's still very much under warranty.

I forgot to say in my post that the whistle is not constant and can sometimes seem to be evident more in a cross wind or the disturbed air as I pass the front end of an HGV when overtaking.

Many thanks once again. I will let you know how it turns out. I will also post the advice (if any) my garage receives from Skoda.

Regards

[Meat742]

Forgot to ask, should there not be a rubber seal on the filter or cover. Nothing evident when I looked.

[dstev2000]

As far as I know, the seal is provided by the base of the filter itself, you'll notice it has slots in it that match the pattern of the latches that secure the lid. From memory, the filter lid should be an airtight fit for obvious reasons. Due to the suction of the blower, it will usually experience a very slight vacuum.

The cabin air is drawn in through the plastic scuttle panel between the bonnet and windscreen. Changes in air pressure from cross winds could make the whistling worse. I'd have the whole cabin air intake assembly checked for gaps that could cause this whistle you've been getting.

[Meat742]

Thanks once again. Logical thought would indicate to me that if hitting the recirculating button gets rid of the whistle, then we need to be looking on the outside of the louvre which closes off the outside air? Will speak to the garage next week and report back.