We all can only wish there was an under hood light to remove the bulb from. :'(

 

Mexstan, from what you are describing I would suspect it is the A/C clutch when starting with the A/C on. After shutting off the engine, it takes quite a while for the refrigerant to depressurize, then when you start it the next morning it will try to repressurize the A/C system before the sensor tries to cut the compressor clutch back off. I don't think the loud snap is normal, and it could be a borderline defective compressor clutch. Start it for a few mornings in a row without the A/C on, and if there is no more snapping, then you have found the culprit. At that point I would take it to the dealer for warranty work on the A/C compressor clutch/solenoid. Just my $.02 [undecided]

 

For two mornings in a row I have started it with the A/C off. No more loud snaps. Tomorrow will start it with the A/C on and see what happens.<br>The only thing I hear now is a muted click which I presume is the heater cycling.

 

Update: Have started it many mornings with the A/C off and no noise. Had my wife start it with the A/C on while I watched the A/C clutch. The noise is when the clutch kicks in. When I was at the dealer got them to take a look at it and reported what I found. They told me that they could not see anything wrong with the clutch. The A/C works just fine as I use it a lot EVERY day. So the bottom line is that I have a noise when I start up but everything works OK. Nothing the dealer can do until something breaks.<br>Any other suggestions or is this just the nature of my particular beast and something I live with?

 

Mine makes a snapping sound too, but not really all that loud. I would leave it alone till it breaks, or until you get close to the end of the warranty. Start taking it in every month or so, that way when the warranty is over they still have to cover it (I think, I know chev is that way) as long as the same problem has been deocumented three times or more. Good luck<br>-Dave

 

Not much else I can do. The only problem is that my dealer is a zillion miles away and really out of my way. Maybe the same thing will work if I report it to any dealer that is close to wherever I happen to stop.

 

I have never noticed any snapping sounds. And yes, the grid heater does cycle as they did on the 2nd gen trucks. I'll pay attention tomorrow and listen, but yours seems pretty loud. I've never heard a thing. <br><br>Of course my throw out bearing is so busy grinding away, it may distract me from anything else.

 

Check the air gap on the a/c clutch. I'll bet it is high side of spec, which will work properly, but make noise. Not detrimental to the life of the a/c just an annoyance..HTH

 

Spots, I had eyeballed this ages ogo and it does look on the large side to me, but I don't know what it is supposed to be. Meant to see if that measurement is in the manual but never got around to it. Yes, I know that should not affect the life of the clutch. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

should be in the manual. If set on the high side you get a wicked snap and sometimes slippage, and on the low side sometimes a bit of drag.

 

Update: Still too lazy to check the airgap but have discovered that if I switch the A/C off before I hit the starter and switch it back on after the engine is running that there is no snapping noise. Just the muted 'click' from the heaters. So am going to do this for now and just live with it. Next time into the dealer will see if they can do anything about it.