Knocks, Pops, or Bangs: With the proliferation of turbocharged engines, Google searches surrounding these symptoms are increasing A LOT. Turns out there is a really good reason, because with some of the higher compression turbocharged engines you NEED to use good gasoline.
Octane is important, but in the case of many Upstate NY drivers the availability of significantly cheaper, untaxed gasoline on reservations is too good to pass up. However, it is unregulated and more often than not people have to find that out the hard way. Modern, high compression turbocharged engines HATE bad gas, so if it is bad youre going to find out in a hurry!
There are also a lot of banging sounds that can come from your suspension system if a component has failed. Youll notice this one more at speed or hitting a pothole.
Squealing:The most telling factor when your car is making a squealing noise is what action you performed to cause the squealing. If you just start your car and it makes a squealing noise, it is more likely than not a serpentine, drive belt or other engine related component. If the squealing sound gets worse on acceleration this is likely the culprit. However, if you step on the brakes and a squealing noise pops up, it is likely to be a problem with the brake rotors, pads, or shoes.
Make note of whatever you just did that caused the squealing noise and tell us! This is the best way to get a proper diagnosis the first time because it is easier for us to replicate the concern and get you back in your car faster!
Clicking or Tapping:This concern is more about where and can be a lot harder to replicate the specific conditions. If the clicking or tapping is coming from the engine bay, it typically means that there is a problem with oil pressure or valves. However, it could also be the first indicator that your engine is low on oil which can cause catastrophic failure, so engine bay tapping/clicking is something that you have to keep an eye on and do not want to ignore. It typically will not resolve itself without being addressed.
If the clicking or tapping is coming from under the car, odds are that it is a problem with an axle shaft or U joint. There are also a lot of components in the suspension that can manifest this type of sound.
Whining or Whirring:Were not talking the are we there yet whining, we are talking about one of the most common sounds that says something is about to fail.
A more common failure that causes this to be noticeable to drivers are blower motors. Your entire car has a self contained HVAC system that regulates air flow with the use of one or multiple blower motors, and that noise can be seriously annoying when they are on the way out.
Whining or whirring can also signal the end of your power steering pump (or that it is low on fluid), a failing alternator, a bad wheel bearing, or in the most extreme and expensive cases- transmission problems. As with the above set of sounds and the age old real-estate adage, location, location, location If you can tell us where the problem is coming from the odds of a correct and quick diagnosis are better.
When a whirring noise is clearly coming from under your car, you could be about to have a whole lot of extra neutrals unless you get it to us ASAP. And for the love of God dont try to limp a car with a messed up transmission to us, just get it flat bedded.
Hissing:Weirdly, this is the first noise that your car can make that incorporates all three states of matter. Hissing can come from a leak in a vacuum line (gas), a leak in a coolant line or possibly oil dripping onto a hot exhaust manifold (liquid) or in extremely rare cases in Rochester, it can come from something inside the car (solid).
The first two are fairly easy but can be made difficult because of the layout of modern cars. They have so many lines and hoses running under so many plastic shields that it can be genuinely hard to make heads or tails of what you’re looking at, let alone finding the leak. The easiest way to find a coolant or oil leak is with a dye test which will circulate and leak a phosphorescent dye from wherever the leak is happening, literally highlighting it so we can fix it properly.
The other type of hissing can happen from something crawling into your car, or rather in the most terrifying cases, slithering into your car. Reptiles love heat. What does your car make a lot of when it’s running? Heat. You can see where this is going. Believe me, it’s not fun for us either. Thankfully this happens a lot more often in the southwest than a place where it randomly snows in mid April after a gorgeous March, but it has happened.
Grinding:The simplest way to describe grinding noises with your car is that something round that is meant to rotate a specific way, isnt doing that because it probably isnt round anymore. Wheel bearings, brakes, differentials, transmissions. All of these things are designed to rotate and when they are grinding that means that they arent happy. Sometimes it can be an easy fix, sometimes it can be expensive and laborious. This depends entirely on what is making the grinding noise.
One special instance of this is actually more of a growling sound. When it comes to the wheel bearings this growling will get louder with speed and can be accurately diagnosed as a front wheel bearing if the growling noise changes in intensity when the wheel is turned in either direction. The odds of having multiple wheel bearings go out at the same time is low, but never zero depending on how well you or a previous owner has taken care of the car.
Rattling:There are a lot of parts on a car that can make a rattling noise. Rattles over bumps or railroad tracks typically indicate a loose or worn suspension component. If you have a resonant rattle under the vehicle when started and at idle, exhaust systems and heat shields are the most common culprits here due to the rate at which salt destroys the underside of your car in Rochester.
However, there are also more facepalm worthy causes of a rattle in your car. Sometimes it can be the stuff you put it, and more often than not, forget to take out. So when a customer comes in with a complaint that states that it sounds like there is a bag of cans in the trunk of the car and we find a bag of cans in the trunk of the car, you can rest assured well be laughing with you, not at you.
So if your car is making any of these noises for any sustained period of time, take the trip down 104 to visit Cavallaro-Neubauer Chevrolet in Williamson. As we figured out in our last article, you want to take your GM truck/ car /investment /baby to the right dealership with good reviews of their service department.
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