Swishing Water Sound Under Dash

[ELI 10]

Originally Posted by Daveynov

ELI 10

My original post was on June 4-12.Sorry, time goes by so fast as you get older-thought it was a few weeks ago. Sounds like you have a great idea about the letter-I'm on board with this.

Thanks Daveynov - I located the original post "2 Annoying Noises in Car" by Lord Helmet. Between the 2 posts I counted 11 unique complaints about this girgling/swishing sound coming from the HVAC unit behind the dash. The dealers are telling us this is normal - no way this is "normal"

I need to do some more research...

[LordHelmet]

Originally Posted by ELI 10

OK Guys - I know there are a lot more important things being brought up on this forum but I do have another nagging problem with my ISG Rio5 Automatic that I would like some opinions on:

After driving for about 5 miles on the highway I will get a swishing water sound from below my passenger side dash when I come to a stop. There is no noise when cruising past 30MPH, but it may be getting masked by road noise.

Everything I'm reading on the Internet points to air pockets in the cooling system - in this case the heater core. I brought my car into the dealer to have the cooling system "burped" and was told that I was exaggerating the noise and I shouldn't be bothered by it! They told me that KIA would not pay for this service unless the noise got worse. This noise is driving me insane.

Has this type of problem ever happened to you?

Any suggestions on where to go from here?

Should I just do the procedure laid out in the Tech Manual on KGIS? The car is only 6 weeks old and I would think KIA should be responsible for this...

I may have the same noise as you. It is related to the A/C. Check and see if the noise goes away when you turn the A/C off (press the button twice in case it was on but wasn't showing you that it was on).

In my case the noise goes away when I turn off the A/C. The noise is worse sometimes than others. If can get so loud that it is embarrassing when I have anyone else in the car, and i shut the a/c off right away.

I have had 2 dealers check it out 3 times total, and they say it is normal for any car and it is the coolant passing through the expansion valve. This is NOT normal as I have never heard it in any other car with the A/C on, and trust me, I notice any little noise that shouldn't be there.

Sounds like some cars have this noise and some don't. Next time I go to have it checked and they say it is normal I am going to have them sit in a new one on the lot and prove to me that all the cars do it... if they do then there is a design flaw on this particular car.

The reason this one is really annoying for me is that my rio has auto climate control, which basically always turns on the A/C no matter what position, temperature, etc. If I set it to manual climate control, I still get the auto defog come on all the time, which reactivates the A/C. I can disable the auto defog but it enables itself each time I shut the car off, so I am constantly having to turn off A/C or disable auto defog logic.

The auto defog wouldn't bother me at all if the darn A/C didn't create such a racket!

We really do need to get to the bottom of this, if it weren't for this noise, I would feel so much better about my car, and feel a bit better about having passengers in it!

[LordHelmet]

Originally Posted by LordHelmet

I may have the same noise as you. It is related to the A/C. Check and see if the noise goes away when you turn the A/C off (press the button twice in case it was on but wasn't showing you that it was on).

In my case the noise goes away when I turn off the A/C. The noise is worse sometimes than others. If can get so loud that it is embarrassing when I have anyone else in the car, and i shut the a/c off right away.

I have had 2 dealers check it out 3 times total, and they say it is normal for any car and it is the coolant passing through the expansion valve. This is NOT normal as I have never heard it in any other car with the A/C on, and trust me, I notice any little noise that shouldn't be there.

Sounds like some cars have this noise and some don't. Next time I go to have it checked and they say it is normal I am going to have them sit in a new one on the lot and prove to me that all the cars do it... if they do then there is a design flaw on this particular car.

The reason this one is really annoying for me is that my rio has auto climate control, which basically always turns on the A/C no matter what position, temperature, etc. If I set it to manual climate control, I still get the auto defog come on all the time, which reactivates the A/C. I can disable the auto defog but it enables itself each time I shut the car off, so I am constantly having to turn off A/C or disable auto defog logic.

The auto defog wouldn't bother me at all if the darn A/C didn't create such a racket!

We really do need to get to the bottom of this, if it weren't for this noise, I would feel so much better about my car, and feel a bit better about having passengers in it!

I should have mentioned that last time i had it in they did a full A/C system inspection, pressure test, burping, etc. and found nothing wrong with it. They said with authority that it is the sound of coolant flowing through the expansion valve and it is normal. So maybe it is normal, but in most cars that area is insulated better so the noise never enters the cabin. If that is the case I will ask them to wrap a bath towel around the expansion valve to help keep the noise outside....

[Jeepnut]

yup yup.
Same w/ the grandsons recently acquired Spectra.
Gurgling/sloshing sound briefly at startup on a fairly regular basis. Sometimes it doesn't happen right away, or you'll hear it again as you stop hard or make a turn...
Definitely under the dash/middle right side ish...

Nothing wet that shouldn't be inside or out, but it certainly isn't a confidence-builder.
I thought "burping" it would be the answer too, though I've never had to burp any OTHER vehicle in the last 40 years worth of driving and I've had more than a few different vehicles in that time...so I went browsing to find out the process and found this thread.

Sign us up for the petiion.

Very annoying but not nearly so much as the response to date by dealers.
Good grief, we only paid $3k for the used Kia so we could live with the noise, but if we'd paid $2x,000 for it I'd be HOPPING mad...

[Daddy-O]

My 2013 Rio5 EX has never made that sound. It must be pretty bad. Interesting its the northern guys making the complaint about AC in November. How can a AC drip pan thats been draining overnight fill and slosh on startup in the morning, but never overfill after that onto the carpeting? Seriously doubt its a plugged pan.

But now that you've brought it up, I've got to listen for it now. Thanks alot. Can you cover it up with the tin-can sound of the satellite radio? Now there's a complaint.

My EX has manual rotary knobs and I will see if I can recreate the issue and bring the parameters to the forum.

But lets keep on the table the possiblility it is something the KIA system does as part of its normal operation. You don't have to like it and it can still be a complaint, but it may not be creating an operational problem.

I remember when the Crown Vic guys got all up in Ford's face and looking for blood over a 3 second "buzzing" under the dash that hit at 13mph after initial startup. They too were looking for a letter-writing campaign. Turns out it was the ABS cycling through a normal diagnostic routine. Everyone shut up after discovering that. I don't have the sound that you all do and I'm willing to help look for the cause of the sound before saying there's a problem.

IMHO.

[lap49]

I hear the same noise. I'm asking my dealer about it this Friday and will see what they say.

[LordHelmet]

Originally Posted by lap49

I hear the same noise. I'm asking my dealer about it this Friday and will see what they say.

what car do you drive? my dealer told me that since mine is an sx, they have to compare it to another sx, and they can't find any... so they can't tell me if my noise is normal or not!

[lap49]

Originally Posted by LordHelmet

what car do you drive? my dealer told me that since mine is an sx, they have to compare it to another sx, and they can't find any... so they can't tell me if my noise is normal or not!

Mine is an LX sedan. I will post what I am told by my dealer.