Exhale noise coming from dashboard

[mwalshuk]

Hi, I’m having an issue with periodic exhale noise coming from the dash. Sometimes it’s accompanied by a slight smell of chemicals.

It only happened on for the first time yesterday, but it happened around 4/5 times throughout a day of travel. The aircon seemed to be unaffected and wasn’t always on when I heard the noise.

Could anyone please help diagnose what it might be?

Thanks,
Michael

[gilly99]

Think you might have to be more specific.

If you were sat in traffic, could possibly be the scavenger fan kicking in as normal under the centre console/dash - that might potentially blow smells from leaking oil or coolant in the engine bay into the fresh air intake or, if seats are not down and sealing properly over the engine bay, into the cabin. More of a whirring fan sound, rather than hissing.

Or the Aircon kicking-in as normal with the air set to re-circulation - that can make a slight hissing sound. Maybe your A/c filter is dirty or blocked, re smells?

Or if a gurgling type sound then maybe some coolant issue, which for example previous owner might have treated minor leak in matrix or system with sealer - those products can smell like mild curry.

[mwalshuk]

Thanks for the quick response.

The sound didn’t always happen at a stop. It sounds like a loud exhale of breath (from a person/or punctured lilo) lasting about 3-5 seconds.

It happened without the recirculating air on.

Is there anything specific I should look for to diagnose the problem?