Sounds like a watch being wound?

I hear a sound periodically that will repeat 3 - 8'ish times that sounds like someone winding their watch.. It's always when in motion and I hear it stronger than my wife (recently got married, still fun to say) but she says my hearing is bizarrely inhuman... lol..

so.. what is that sound? I figure it's some sensor or relay making adjustments or calibrations on the fly, but I have no way to "create" the sound.. I just hear it while driving most of the time...

I'm pretty sure it's the "sniffer" that checks cabin temperature for the HVAC. The port for it is in the dash onteh drivers side. It is a little grille about the size of a quarter.

Albertj

holy crap! I bet you're right! I'll put my ear to the hole next time I hear it.
I'll be damned.. thanks! That's been driving me nuts for almost a year now.. lol.

I guess it's one of the heater door actuators. I used to say there were little birds under the dash...

I've been wondering what that little thing ("sniffer") was but kept forgetting to ask.

You can hear the heater doors move by changing the setting of the air flow control, or moving the temperature setting * a lot * in automatic mode to make the car move the heat/cool blend doors.

Albertj