G6 'crunching' sounds

My G6 has been making what I can only describe as crunching sounds whenever the lens moves in and out (ie on and off). There doesnt seem to be anything else wrong with it; all the functions work fine as far as i can tell, and the photos come out fine as well. But that sound just scares the crap out of me. Is this a known problem?

Been at the beach lately?
2 yrs ago, I got sand in there.

hehe . . . i bought my G6, so i can bring a camera to the beach.

are you saying it may be sad as it has not been to the beach? perhaps an icecream would help too...

I havent been to the beach since december. I have been taking this camera to work though (construction site). You think its just dust? How do I clean it out then?

Try and suck out the grit with a shop vac from the lens port, put some soft tape around the shop vac nozle to keep from scratching anything. If that doesn't work, I can't recommend anything except having a pro take it apart to clean the spaces inside and clean/re-lube gears if they need it.

is it doing any damage? I'll try the vaccuum idea kraig and see if that works

Yea, that's definately from the dust at the site. This happened to my G6 when i went to the beach last May, it got sand in it when i fell face down on the beach after a gust came up and blew it off my tripod. I only had it for about a week. But i sent it back to Canon, convincing them it was a malfunction, they took it, and didn't charge me anything. I honestly don't think that using the vacuum will work, because the G6 isn't like an SLR, where u can take the lense out. This is most likely coming form the zooming gear setup. I say send it back. Good luck!

unfortunately, i think my 1 year warranty is over.

You might still be able to get them to do it, i'm not sure though, it's worth a try.

That does it! I'm never taking my Lensmate off!

yeah, i put the lensmate on whenever I take my G6 to the beach.