Why Is My Green Mountain Grill Auger Making Noise? (Causes & Solutions)

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It’s a perfect sunny day and you are grilling on your Green Mountain pellet grill with a family gathering!

You are enjoying perfect wood-smoked flavor meat along with your family.

Isn’t it an awesome experience?

But unfortunately, not everything can be so easy-going!

You suddenly notice Green Mountain auger is making a loud noise.

You are wondering, why Green Mountain grill auger is making noise?

Then here we will explore more about the reasons of Green Mountain auger making noise and its fixes.

Let’s dive into it.

Why is Green Mountain Grill Auger Making Noise?

There are myriad reasons due to which your Green Mountain grill auger making noise. It is very annoying to hear that sound frequently.

Let’s get to know the causes.

Foreign objects in the auger feed system

Sometimes the foreign objects get into the auger through the pellet hopper. The contamination from a hard foreign object causes the auger to make an annoying noise.

Perhaps the small screw or nail gets into the pellet hopper and it goes into the auger.

The foreign objects may find their way into the hopper and cause the auger to make noise.

Off-brand pellets

Some Green Mountain Grill owners experience the strange noise with off-brand pellets.

The off-brand pellets may cause the auger to make a strange noise.

With some off-brand pellets, pellet manufactures introduce clay fillers and other impurities in the pellets to keep costs down.

The auger also making noise because of the inconsistency in size with off-brand pellets, the auger has to shear them off.

Pellets get jam in the auger

If your grill auger is making a loud noise, there could be due to pellets get jam in the auger. It may be jammed sideways between the auger screw and the supply pipe as pellets are more solid and not crumbling apart.

The pellet grill auger gets jammed because moisture gets trapped into the pellets.

As humidity affects the wood pellets, the pellets swell up, causes the auger to get jammed or clogged.

This is why the storage of the grill is important.

So, you should store the grill precisely in a closed area like, in a garage, or the place where it won’t get wet in the rain.

Rusty or bent auger

If your grill auger is damaged, it makes a squeaky noise.

If the ager tube was bent slightly in one section or the auger itself was not perfectly straight it causes a strange squeaky noise.

The rusty auger also leads to an auger jam problem or noise issue.

So, you need to inspect the auger it should not be bent or get rusty.

Grease in the auger motor gearbox

If there is noise coming from your GMG auger, you need to check your auger motor gearbox.

Sometimes auger motor gearbox is full of grease due to which it makes noise.

The grease in the auger gearbox may also lead to other functional issues to your grill.

So, checking the auger gearbox is essential.

Loose gearbox

If you are wondering, why your Green Mountain Grill auger is making noise, then you need to check the gearbox.

In some cases, there is a loose gearbox assembly that causes the noise coming from the auger.

The gearbox should be fixed properly so that it can work properly without any issue and noise.

If your grill is new, check whether it is coming with a loose gearbox.

So, check the gearbox and if it is loose fix it tight and properly.

Wiring issue

Sometimes there is a clicking sound coming from your GMG while the auger is turning.

It happens when the wires underneath the hopper unit shift out of place leads to block the auger’s motor fan.

So, check if there is any wiring-related issue with your pellet grill.

How to Fix Green Mountain Grill Auger that is Making Noise?

Check for any foreign objects

The foreign object in the auger feed system causes the making of noise and blocking the auger feed system at the bottom.

So, you need to check it and remove it from the auger feed system.

For this, you need to open the hopper lid. Ensure there are no foreign objects in the hopper or auger feed system at the bottom.

Vacuum out the area around the auger with a wet-dry vacuum and remove foreign objects that might cause the auger to make noise.

Then again fill the hopper with dry hardwood pellets and check for auger whether it is making noise or working quietly as usual.

Use Green Mountain Grill Brand Pellets

Some Green Mountain Grill owners experience the annoying noise when they use the off-brand pellets in their GMG.

So, I recommend using the Green Mountain grill pellets in your Green Mountain grill for avoiding this issue.

The GMG pellets are made of solid premium hardwood. They are larger in diameter that allows them to last longer than other standard size pellets.

They have lower moisture that gives you better performance. It has a more efficient burn so they produce less ash.

GMG produces pellets from 100-percent kiln-dried sawdust that stays clean throughout the process.

It Produces a long burn with modest smoke.

Clean the auger motor gearbox

If you notice any strange noise from your Green Mountain grill, you need to check the auger motor gearbox.

Sometimes there is grease in the auger motor gearbox that causes the noise.

For solving this, you need to do a complete teardown to find out the source of the noise.

You need to take apart the gearbox and clean out the grease if any.

If you find the gear is full of grease you have to clean it out immediately.

Tap the auger

Sometimes quick fixes work like wonder. If you hear the auger noise when it is turning on, you can fix this issue easily.

You just need to tap the auger and it may resolve your problem noise problem as well as it unclog the auger if it gets jam.

If there is any pellet dust or any dirt trapped inside the auger, you can easily lose it and remove it.

So, just tapping may fix this issue quickly.

Resolve wiring problem

So, if there is a wiring issue located beneath the grill hopper, you may hear the clicking sound when the auger is turning.

For solving this issue, you have to check the area and remove the obstruction to put an end to the clicking noise.

If the clicking sound continues even when the auger isn’t turned on, it means that one or more of the gears is stripped.

In this case, you need to replace it as soon as possible.

Vacuum out the auger and hopper

The auger can make noise due to the pellet dust in the hopper and auger shaft. There are pellets also jam in the auger that cause noise while turning the auger.

So, vacuuming out the pellet hopper and auger shaft area can help you out to get rid of the noise.

You can use a shop vac to vacuum out the dust in the hopper and auger.

How to Replace Green Mountain Grill Auger Assembly?

Make the hopper empty if there are any pellets inside the hopper to avoid the mess.

Remove the components inside the grill like grill grate, drip tray, etc. So that you can see down on the fire-pot and can access the Philips headed screw that is holding the auger assembly.

Unplug the grill from its back and remove the control panel. Make the wiring free up as you need to detach the hopper box from the grill.

For removing the hopper box, you need to remove the bolts that hold the hopper, located on two on the front and two on the back of the hopper box.

Take something high like a bucket or box to lie down the hopper on it. Now, you need to remove the thermal sensor.

For removing the thermal sensor give one turn to the screw and loosen up the screw.

After removing the thermal washer, if you don’t want to lose the thermal washer, put it back into a thermal sensor and screw it on the bolt, so that it remains safe.

Now disassemble the auger assembly, igniter, and combustion fan.

For removing the auger and combustion fan you need to have a separate clip. The igniter has two leads which you have to pull apart.

Keep the hopper box aside. You have to detach the old auger assembly.

You need to remove the bolts that attaching the auger assembly to the side of the grill. Now your auger assembly can come off freely.

Take a new auger assembly, feed the igniter wire through the hole for reconnecting it. Put the top bolts. So that you’ll get to know the right placement of the new auger assembly.

Push the burn pot assembly on the auger tube and tighten the bolts. Fix the ledge back that holds the grease tray.

For fixing the new auger assembly, place the gasket on the auger assembly and bring the hopper box back. Put the thermal sensor back in the grill. Fix back the thermal washers on each side.

Reconnect the auger assembly, igniter wire, and combustion fan. Fix the hopper box back on the grill.

While putting back the hopper box, be careful about thermal sensor wire as they may pinch between the auger assembly and hopper box.

Attach the hopper by fixing it with a screw. Plug in the grill and fill the hopper with pellets.

Press the power button and set the grill at cycle zero.

While the grill goes through the one-two-three zero cycles, it is feeding the pellets. So, it is a good way to know the auger assembly is turning and working properly.

To prime the auger tube to get ready for the next cooking batch run full four zero cycle, unplug and re-plug the grill the run the grill for another four zero cycle.

It helps to pull the pellets all the way through the auger tube and come into the burn pot.

When you start the grill next time it is ready with pellets full in the auger tube, you just need to press the power button.