Hi, I have a 03 plate sei active sport mpi and this morning noticed a strange tapping, clicking sound which sounds like it’s coming from behind the dash when the key is in the ignition and turned on. I’ve not noticed this before any ideas what this is or if this is a normal sound that I’ve just not noticed before? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Hi Magsy-

do you mean when the key is at MAR, which is JUST electrical-power, and without the engine running?

If you lift the bonnet, can you hear it from there, also..?

Make sure your earths are all intact. It could be a relay having a rattle as the electricity looks for a way to ground.

D

I replied to this last night, not sure where it went....
anyway: Does the noise stop if the heater fan is turned off?

good question!

its when the key is just on electrical power, engine not switched on, I opened the bonnet and it sounded like it was coming from behind the bulkhead but didnt have time to investigate any further, it was still clicking this morning but it sounded like it had slowed down? I will try turning the heater fan on see if that makes a difference but it does sound like its coming from heater box

I turned the heater fan on the noise was there, I ran it for a bit it didnt stop, I then turned the fan off and the noise continued

Magsy91 said:

I turned the heater fan on the noise was there, I ran it for a bit it didnt stop, I then turned the fan off and the noise continued

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Any change to the noise with different fan speeds?

There isn't much in there that can make a noise, especially without the engine running.
There is only the heater fan and the windscreen wiper.

does your Sei have an electrical air-recycling button?

Or is the flap, still that slider?

dante giacosa said:

does your Sei have an electrical air-recycling button?

Click to expand...

That is a good point.
Some cars with servo controlled flaps (flaps... ) close the recycling flap when the ignition is turned off, then open it again when the ignition is turned on.
Don't know if the Sei got that or not.

the Sei has a slider I'm fairly sure-

but the question is whether that is a genuine mechanical action- or whether it actuates a switch, which in turn closes the flap...

There is a 'thing' in Coupe circles, where the systems can try to close or open the flap, and cause a continuous soft-clicking within the dash.
They time-out after a period of time- I don't know if the Sei has a system anything like that...

dante giacosa said:

does your Sei have an electrical air-recycling button?

Or is the flap, still that slider?

Click to expand...

It’s a slider. I turned the fan speed up and you can still hear it clicking

I’ve moved the slider to both positions and it makes no difference. I serviced the car today changed the coolant ran a tad flush through the system and once I filled the header tank back up and bled the system I turned the heater fan on to check the heat came through and it feels like it’s twice as powerful as before I can feel the fan virbrating the dash and through the brake pedal and it’s a lot louder than before. Could it be the clicking is Coming from a relay that controls the heater blower or the blower itself and now it’s letting too much power through and it’s on it’s way out? It’s still clicking on electric on ignition position too fml!

Well,

I think the general consensus is that it has to be electrical and that it has to be a relay.

But the varying fan speed in FIATs is usually made possible by a range of resistive stages housed in a metal-finned unit, 'plugged' into the ventilation plant- in order to self cool through airflow.

There isn't a relay in there as such.

There is another system employed in FIATs for temperature-mixing of the incoming air to the ventilation plant.
When you adjust the hot / cold rotary control, you actually are adjusting across an electrical 'range', the output of which acts upon a mixer-valve which affects coolant entering the ventilation-plant.

I suppose it's possible the mixer-valve could be attempting to cycle through some action. It might be worth twisting the temperature control right round and waiting to see if the noise changes, with the fan running.

However- I'm shooting-my-mouth-off here; it's been 20 years since I had a Seicento, and I didn't need to do any work on it at the time.
Whilst everything I've said here is true for certain FIATs; it may not apply to the Sei, which may utilise much simpler systems.

In short- the simplest way to discover the origin of your noise; is to start pulling fuses out, one by one.

I think removing the bulkhead trim panel from under the bonnet should be the way forward.
It is only a few screws and is easy to remove.
Once out it will also highlight how little there is behind it..!

that's probably a better course of action...