# Shifting sand?

**URL:** <https://community.cartalk.com/t/shifting-sand/468>\
**Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\
**Tags:** noises\
**Created:** [June 11, 2007, 4:58pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/shifting-sand/468 "2007-06-11T16:58:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Veegee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c4cdca/32.png) [@Veegee](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Veegee)\
**Post date:** [June 11, 2007, 4:58pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/shifting-sand/468/1 "2007-06-11T16:58:17Z")

</div>

My 2003 Toyota Corolla, used, is making a noise like sliding sand from the left to the right of the dashboard when I make a left hand turn and the air conditioning is on… what could this noise be?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![MikeInNH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a587f6/32.png) [@MikeInNH](https://community.cartalk.com/u/MikeInNH)\
**Post date:** [June 11, 2007, 5:12pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/shifting-sand/468/2 "2007-06-11T17:12:52Z")

</div>

Sounds like something has gotten into the air ducts. You may have to take the air-ducts appart to find out what and remove it.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Joseph\_E\_Meehan](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/joseph_e_meehan/32/21_2.png) [@Joseph\_E\_Meehan](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Joseph_E_Meehan)\
**Post date:** [June 11, 2007, 5:20pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/shifting-sand/468/3 "2007-06-11T17:20:44Z")

</div>

Are you sure it is not water moving back and forth?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![VDCdriver](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/vdcdriver/32/30_2.png) [@VDCdriver](https://community.cartalk.com/u/VDCdriver)\
**Post date:** [June 11, 2007, 5:25pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/shifting-sand/468/4 "2007-06-11T17:25:13Z")

</div>

Yeah, I agree that it is likely to be water that has been trapped by a blocked A/C drain.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![SteveF](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/stevef/32/2_2.png) [@SteveF](https://community.cartalk.com/u/SteveF)\
**Post date:** [June 11, 2007, 5:50pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/shifting-sand/468/5 "2007-06-11T17:50:09Z")

</div>

My vote is for either a coin or a Lego piece in one of the airducts. Very common.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Veegee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c4cdca/32.png) [@Veegee](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Veegee)\
**Post date:** [June 11, 2007, 9:57pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/shifting-sand/468/6 "2007-06-11T21:57:48Z")

</div>

I did hear some water at times, although most of the time it sounds like sand… and now today, I noticed a few water droplets on the carpeted driver side console underneath the dashboard… and the carpeting under my vinyl car mats on both driver side and passenger side is soaked with water! this must have been going on awhile…so, maybe it is a blocked a/c drain? and now is leaking out another way? I hope it’s not an expensive job…

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Erik\_Fantome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5fc32e/32.png) [@Erik\_Fantome](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Erik_Fantome)\
**Post date:** [August 26, 2019, 10:55pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/shifting-sand/468/7 "2019-08-26T22:55:10Z")

</div>

Yes! My Corolla is doing the same thing! Both sides of the floor in front are soaked and the noise is always loudest when I have my AC on. This is very helpful, now I can look up the cost of repairs. Thank you OP 😉