I recently purchased a new vehicle and I’ve noticed something odd with the climate fan. It seems that whenever the fan speeds are set to low settings (1 to 3 out of 8), there’s a humming/purring sound. Doesn’t matter if it’s heat or a/c. It’s almost like the sound of the engine has changed and it stays this way for the entire time the fan is on. It seems to get louder and more distinct with rpm and I stop hearing it around 2 - 2.5k+. On medium/high fan speeds, I think it get’s drowned by the fan noise so I don’t hear it. And as soon as I turn the climate control off there’s no more noise. Originally, I thought it was the blower motor and took it in to the dealer to get it looked at and they told me that it’s normal and that it’s the a/c clutch activating apparently. It just doesn’t seem super normal as I’ve never experienced anything like it in any of my other vehicles and just sounds really odd overall. Any idea as to what it can be?
Maybe a test would be to open the hood and run the engine. Have a helper turn the fan off and on a few times, see whether the noise is coming from the engine bay or inside the cabin. Rev the engine some see if the sound changes. If the noise is coming from the engine bay, it may be the AC compressor. Wish I could help more. Hard to diagnose sounds by text! Good luck though.