Slight grinding noise - outside, Ac unit

[shonline]

Not sure where to post this... so here it goes.

Just noticed while detailing the car with door open and climate on - that when the AC powers up, I not only hear the usual sounds associated with this sort of unit, but a slight grinding noise. This is easy to hear outside the car. Putting my head into the wheel well on pax side makes it clearer.

It almost sounds as if a metal fan blade is chaffing on another piece of metal - or something that got ingested into the fan. (if that's even possible) It is not a whine (like heard on Teslatap), but is as noted above.

Can't imaging this is normal, but don't want to panic either as my nearest SC is Charlotte...

Thanks!

 

[StaticDischarge]

We had this or a similar problem recently on a long road trip; the noise was coming from the passenger side front and was dependent on having climate turned on. I sent a recording to the SC. They think a pebble was lodged in the fan. They suggested using compressed air (hard to find in Death Valley) through the front slats, should they be open. The problem self-resolved mostly, with a bit of noise every so often. It will be in for an annual soon, so they will have a look.

 

[shonline]

We had this or a similar problem recently on a long road trip; the noise was coming from the passenger side front and was dependent on having climate turned on. I sent a recording to the SC. They think a pebble was lodged in the fan. They suggested using compressed air (hard to find in Death Valley) through the front slats, should they be open. The problem self-resolved mostly, with a bit of noise every so often. It will be in for an annual soon, so they will have a look.

Thanks!