Obnoxious clicking in dash board

OK. So I have a playing card in a bicycle wheel that I can clearly hear coming from the inboard passenger side AC vent. If I close the vent, it stops. Doesn't matter if heat or A/C, recirc or not, and is dependent on blower speed.

Thoughts?

 

That sounds like maybe a piece of foam came loose or a leaf or something is stuck in the vent duct.

 

Looks and sounds like the classic stripped out actuator gears to me.

 

Ok Friday update:

$14 Cheapy from Ebay came/installed - and it's working....fingers crossed. If it goes south I am going to suck it up and go OEM.

Going to return the 2 Standard Aftermarket Parts to Rockauto and let them know that this DOES NOT work on Tacomas.....

Wish me luck!!! I'll update ASAP if it goes south or in a few days if I have smooth sailing.....

 

Update 5/17/22 - cheapy part from Ebay working like a dream. I guess the Standard part doesn't work with Tacomas...

I'll update after I return the 2 parts to Rockauto. 1 shipped yesterday, the other later this week....

 

Probably just shit parts, we've had the same problem with Standard brake light switches being defective lately.

 

You can clearly see the piece of white nylon clicking at the end of your video. As that's driven by the actuator, it does look like it's not shutting off when it's reached the proper end of travel. Very weird but pretty clearly not working right.

 

Hey All.

Update - cheapy still working strong. No problems. Got a full refund on the 1st part and a partial refund (minus shipping) on the 2nd part from Rockauto. $7.50 loss.

A big shout out to @Dm93 for helping me and to everyone else who chimed in. Thanks so much.

Have a great weekend!

 

Ding ding ding!

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/dash-removal-solved.772854/

 

This same clicking noise just started this weekend. Cool mornings, it clicks, warms up in the day, doesn't click. Recirculate button off causes it to click, will be replacing the actuator this weekend.

 

Knock this out and replace it. Not that hard!

 

Ordered part, just waiting for it to arrive, hopefully I don't get a faulty one.

 

Where did you order from?

 

Amazon.

 

How much. I paid like less than 20 on ebay.

 

Wow, that's an awesome price.
i paid $32.47 total.

 

Took about 15 minutes to replace the part.
Fixed my problem.

Spent most of my time cleaning out the glove box. It was packed with a bunch of papers and while looking through all of that crap, I found a DMV envelope with some cash in it. Must have been in there for awhile.

 

Always nice to find money laying around you forgot you had.

 

UPDATE: So the Ebay part crapped out after 2.5 years (October 2024). Clicking noise again!

Since I've been thru this I knew what I was getting into.

New part from Amazon - AC Delco $45.65. Installed and working great. I'll update again if this craps out.

Note: The OEM and this AC Delco are both from Worry so fingers crossed I'll get 10+ from this part.

Pics of Old Cheapy from Ebay then the new AC Delco from Amazon

Any questions - hit me up. Thanks again to this wonderful community of Taco Owners.