Hissing sound from center console
 

My car has developed a hissing sound coming from the climate controls in the center console. In the past the hissing sound would occur briefly when adjusting the temperature or the AC, but now the sound is relatively constant. The hiss stops when you turn off the AC, but otherwise it is fairly constant.

My guess is that the thermostat for the AC has some sort of pneumatic linkage. The thermostat in my office makes a similar hissing sound when you adjust the temperature setting.

My hope is that something minor is stuck and will resolve itself. My fear is that if I don't address the problem soon, it may cause some bigger failure.

Anyone experience anything like this? Any thoughts on whether I should give it time, or take it in right away?

Thanks!

Sounds like the makings of a not so awesome sequel starring Samuel L. Jackson. (Sorry, couldn't resist)

It's not normal, I would take it to the dealer.

LMAO...."Snakes in my Mother*****g 5'er"

OP, get it checked, def not normal.

:rofl:

Well, I finally got around to getting this fixed (when the system stopped blowing cold air :angel:). Turns out I had a pinched o-ring and all of the freon leaked out. The o-ring was under the hood by the compressor, so not sure why there was hissing coming from the climate control panel. Anyway, figured I'd give an update.

What's the chance that I damaged my AC by running it without freon? Works great now, but my guess is that I put some undue wear and tear on it....

Shouldn't be.

Your compressor would have a low pressure cutoff switch that would disable the compressor once the refrigerant pressure got below a certain level for exactly this reason. Because after all, the refrigerant is also the lubricant.

Funny - I was just reading about the snake pavilion collapsing at the Denver Zoo. Now the snakes don't have a pit to hiss in!