Auto repair physicians get to the bottom of unusual sounds coming from your car

%b %12 %2015, %Rcar sounds, engine noise, engine noises, sounds from car

Is that a whistle from under the hood? Maybe it’s more of a grinding noise? Whatever it is, it’s annoying, isn’t it? What if it’s more than annoying? Well, maybe it will go away.

It’s never a good idea to ignore unusual sounds coming from your vehicle. A car is designed with the expectation that it will make certain noises. When unusual noises are heard, they’re clues to something mechanical. Unexpected thumps, whistles, hums and grinds can indicate all kinds of problems.

A sound that is not customary could indicate a mechanical problem with your ca that could leave you stranded on the side of the road. Worse yet, the sound could come from something more critical than that – something that would put you and your family at serious risk. For instance, what if you hear a slight clanking noise? It’s not that loud so you ignore it.

One day, you approach an intersection and apply the brakes almost without thinking about it. You assume the car will stop, as usual. Instead, your foot pushes the pedal all the way to the floor and the car careens out into traffic speeding by in front of you. You don’t have to consider that situation any further to realize that it’s not good.

Hopefully, you come out of it OK. Better yet, hopefully, the sound you hear is not that serious. But how do you know? The only real way to make sure the sounds you hear don’t indicate a serious problem with your car is to have an expert check it out.

The driver who heard the sounds mentioned in the first paragraph – the whistle-like grinding noise, brought their car into a trusted auto repair shop. The auto repair technician could tell that the sound came from under the hood so he popped the hood and grabbed his stethoscope.

Looking just like a doctor, he carefully touched the stethoscope to parts of the engine. In short order, he was ready with his diagnosis – a pulley for the serpentine belt tensioner was bad.

The pulley is is a metal wheel on a bracket. It presses against the serpentine belt, which drives the alternator, power steering pump, water pump and other essential parts. The pulley has bearings inside. As is usually the case with a faulty pulley, the bearings inside were failing.

Fortunately, the driver brought the car in soon enough. If not, when the bearings got too hot and locked up, the pulley would have chewed up the serpentine belt. In the case of this vehicle, there were two belts. When the first belt came apart, it would have destroyed the other belt.

That’s the other issue with ignoring unusual sounds coming from your car; if you ignore them, they often develop into even more costly problems.

Denny Norton

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