Follow up, I now can definitely say it is something with the valves. The weird air noise in problem 2 is coming from a brief opening from foot to front vents that keeps repeating. I noticed under the steering column a motor, what seems to make that soft clicking nois. I thought that was the valve, however after I unplugged it everything still worked. I have it now plugged back in and my problems 1 and 2 are also gone. Still not sure if it was a loose connection, because the plug wasn't loose and was not corroded.
So my question can someone tell me what the black what appears to me as a motor see photo is or should be doing?

 

I to am having this problem. Your photo does not show up. Can You repost? I would like to try this to see if it fixes my problem. Photo shows up now

 

You are likely hearing the HVAC blend doors "hunting" for proper position according to how you have your climate control system set. This is a very common issue in today's vehicles regardless of make and model.

Do a Google search using "HVAC automotive blend door problems" as your search phrase and you will have plenty of information to read regarding your issue.

 

@Jon89 Yeah, that is what I am thinking too. Just wished I had a proper drawing on how to disassemble and which blend door is where. Thanks for mentioning the proper naming of blend doors. This will make searching a lot easier.
I drove the car today and indeed what I already expected the problem is not solved. I will start by removing the suspected one I posted above and see if that indeed is causing the problem it will be the easiest one to access.
@sprintcowboy So I am not the only one. For me it is not a really big deal, just annoying because the car is so quiet when driving and every little crack or thick is just irritating.

 

I finally got the time to investigate the clicking noise some more today. It was the upper motor, the one that controls the window, front and feet blend doors. Getting them off was a real pain. The two motors are on one mount bracket and are have four screws to hold it in place. The screws are very hard to access, but I did get it loos. It was definitely the upper motor since when I had it loose I turned the climate control on and it when back and forth to make the clicking noise. So no problems with the blend doors. The motors can be easily disassembled by clicking them open. I cleaned the contacts inside and put it back together. The clicking was gone and the motor stayed stable. That was the easy part. Putting the motor mount back on was a real torture it took me about 2 hours to get it back in place. For now it works good and I hope I never have to dismantle it again. Sorry no photos this time.

 

Glad to hear that you were able to repair the motor at no cost. Hope it stays fixed for you.

 

A little update, driving the car for a week now and the blend motor didn't show any issues anymore. Very happy to have a silent car again.

 

I have a 2011 Outback and am trying to figure out if what you all are describing is what I am experiencing. About a month ago I started hearing this clicking near the drivers side dash/steering column/fuse box. I hear it when the cooling/heating system is completely off. I hear it driving down the road and in idle. Yet...it doesn't happen every single time I drive. Is that what you were experiencing or do I have another situation going on? (appreciate the input)

 

Note to thread starter Outback118 how did you get access to the blend motors as I think I have the same issue with my 100K mile vehicle.

 

That was a real pain. I did it on touch removing the screws with a short screwdriver. However it is very hard to do, because you have very little room with the steering column in the way. I need to do it again, because it is making the noise again. Next time I think of using a scope cam (ordered from alieexpress for 10$) so I at least will be able to see what I am doing.
I will make some photos on my next try, just waiting for better weather too cold outside.

 

That'd be great OB118. Just to clarify is your car left or right hand drive? I'm in NZ so RHD for me.

 

LHD , but I think they mirror everything, so I guess your blendmotor will be on the right side. left to your steering column. For me it is on the left side right to my steering column.

 

I just did mine yesterday on 2010 RHD manual. I disconnected the battery, removed the top and side of the centre console, removed the glove box dash end panel. Once this is done remove the garnish ( mine was silver ) above the glove box with trim tool, just pulls off. Remove 6 screws from inner glove box (two on the bottom corners 1 on the end of dash 3 along top of inner glove box and then just pull it out. Unplug and remove Body Control Module and bracket ( one 10mm nut top and bottom of bracket on firewall ) there are 4 screws holding the plastic housing containing the Servo motors to the heater box. As Outback118 said the back and top screws are hard to get at, both done by feel and use of a mirror ( only three went back in mine maybe easier next time). One other thing I found hard was lining up the four leavers on the heater box into the servo motors this took me some time. Once servos and housing are back in place I just replaced everything in the reverse order. All up the job took me approx. 6 hours but I have not been on the tools for a long time.

 

Thank you gmb that's great information and will be a considerable help when I get stuck into it. Did you replace the servos or fix them?


Would the parts have been No 11 and 12 on this page?
https://parts.subaruonlineparts.com...-premium-trim/2-5l-h4-gas-engine/hvac-cat/evaporator-and-heater-components-scat

 

Hi
I replaced both servos, they appear to be 11 and 12 in the diagram. I have attached photos of what I replaced. Servos are the black units in the white housing. The first picture shows the 4 levers that have to be engaged into the servos

 

Those are very explanatory photos thanks gmb. It looks like you completely removed the air box from the vehicle?
So the top servo is for the mode and the lower servo for the air mix left hand side?
Could you explain how you removed the top and side of the centre consul.

 

Hi
No, I did not remove the whole box, Because the servos are so expensive in Regional Queensland ( $180 each ) I bought a Climate Control Heater Box from a 2014 wrecked model for $120 complete and hoped that the servos would be ok. They were thankfully. Mine is a 6 speed manual trans and on mine there is a rubber mat in front of the console under the power outlet, just lift this out and there is an opening. Gentley pull up the top of the centre console starting at the opening. As for the side of the console there are two self tatting screws ( which you can see after removing the top ) holding it to the main console, remove these and just pull it out to the side, I think there was about 3 or 4 pop clips locating it towards the front of the panel.
Cheers

 

Well I finally got around to fixing this problem following the directions provided by gmb. I replaced the black 'mode' servo unit, part number 72131AJ09A also labelled 063800-1930, on the upper left side of the airbox. As my car is RHD it's a little easier to do the job than on a LHD car, however the parts are located in the same place on both. On my vehicle I only needed to remove the glove box, unplug and move aside the body control module and bracket and remove the 4 screws holding in the white plastic bracket containing two servo motors. The top screw of the four is difficult to see but with a short philips head screwdriver it's quite possible to remove it. I didn't need to remove the centre console and the whole job took about 2 hours.

 

Additional points to note:
When you have the servo removed and before pulling off the large white drive plate compare the positions of the cams on the old and new units. Before reassembly I attached the new servo unit into the wiring harness and operated the 'mode' button until the cam matched the position of the cam on the old unit. I then removed the -ve battery lead to keep it in that position and then swapped over the drive plate onto the new servo. (If you do this don't forget to reconnect the various modules before switching on the ignition and so prevent any codes being thrown).
When offering up the repaired dual servos to the side of the airbox don't forget to locate the lower fresh air flap lever, that the lower servo unit controls, into the drive plate.

 

The ticking noise is caused by the 'mode' module internal contacts wearing away the conductive material especially at the parking position causing the unit to hunt for its correct default position. You can see the damage in the circular track conductive material caused by the three contact prongs in the following pictures.

 

Hi, fellow kiwi here, I know this is an older question, but where did you get your actuators from and how did they cost?
I’m suffering the same issues and it’s getting really noisy!

Cheers, Jack