Hammer time? What was that noise under the hood?!

luttersj

luttersj

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This has happened to me twice now. During a cold start (+/- 10 degrees or less) it sounds like there's a troll under my hood pounding on something with a hammer. Loud banging noises in rythm with the usual sound of someone driving home a nail. It happens maybe 5-10 times then goes away.

I tried to scramble to open up the hood but by the time I got there the sound had stopped.

Any ideas on what that might be?
 
hehe.. not the comment I was hoping for. I was hoping for: "oh that's ____. all you have to do is _____ and problem solved!" :D

I HATE being the only one to ever have had a problem.
 
is it a hard knocking?? or more of a softer knock.... I ask because my Torque converter makes a knocking sound when cooled.. once warmed up it goes away...
 
hmm...I'm not sure how to describe the sound. It's loud enough so that when I'm sitting inside my car with the radio on I can still hear it. It's not a 'ping' from metal expanding or contracting. It's a definite 'hammer on metal' noise. Or maybe hammer on rock. Picture the days when you were working on the chain gang. You had this huge piece of granite to break down. Those first few swings were met with a metallic 'thud'. A really solid sounding hit. That's what it's like.

Oddly enough I just went out for lunch. it's -5 F right now. The car has been sitting in that temp for about 4.5 hours. I started it up and heard nothing...
 
thats weird... was going to say maybe a rod bearing, but not if it comes and goes
 
I did just have a new serpentine belt put on before Thanksgiving. I wonder if it could be something with that? Then again, it's only happened twice since then. And both of those times were within the last 4 days. You'd think if something was wrong with the installation it would have shown up right away.

If it happens again tomorrow morning (or this evening for that matter) I'll have to take it into the dealership. It's obviously not supposed to make that noise and since I still have the warranty I might as well use it.
 
If you want to 100% eliminate it being a driven accessory just take the serpentine belt of and start the car... if it makes the same noises its probably internal in the engine or possibly transmission related... if the sound goes away I would look at all the driven accessories.
 
Unfortunately, like I said earlier, it's -5F right now. That's pretty much the high for the day. with no heated garage, it's gonna have to either make the noise until it warms up or I take it to the shop.

Good call on the tensioner! It sort of makes snese that it might have something to do with an area that was recently serviced.

As for removing the serpentine and hearing the noise or not...well, it doesn't happen each time I start the car the way that it is now. I guess I'll have to either pick up on a pattern or wait until it gets worse to try that plan.
 
sounds like a rod knock. how old is the oil? what kind of filter? sounds like the oil psi leaks down over night and on initial cold start up the bearings are dry causing the knock. if you have warranty, use it! dont wait cuz if its a knock, all it does is get worse unless caught very early on
 
chickenviii said:
sounds like a rod knock. how old is the oil? what kind of filter? sounds like the oil psi leaks down over night and on initial cold start up the bearings are dry causing the knock. if you have warranty, use it! dont wait cuz if its a knock, all it does is get worse unless caught very early on
Click to expand...

Just had it changed at the dealership 3 weeks ago. Interesting theory though! I'll see what tomorrow morning brings.
 
How fast is your banging, your first post suggests it's slow like someone pounding a nail with a hammer?
Mine made this sound once, cold start, parked on incline, but it was fast, like engine speed. I guess it was rod knock.
 
I've had something very similar to this happening. It's kind of a loud clacking noise. It's not engine speed related, happens about 5 or 10 times kind of randomly and then stops. Only happens when it's really cold like these past couple of mornings. BTW, check out them temp here:

IMAGE_110.jpg
 
please excuse the noob question: is "rod knock" a bad thing? (I'm afraid to Google it) I know it sure doesn't sound good!

I was all prepared to make an audio recording of the noise this morning but, of course, nothing happened. I'll probably still call the mechanic to see what he thinks but it'll be pretty hard to diagnose without hearing it I would assume.
 
-8 , F that in the A, i have been irritated about it being 14 and windy in michigan, yesteryday 6am 51F, 1pm 19F.
 
You guys are funny. This is the temp right now where I'm at. Of course, not including wind chill:

temp.jpg
 
heres one that i was wondering the other day, i see that the windshield wiper defroster is on in Petkel picture, my 2nd gen does not have this button anymore but the windshield still has the defroster line under the wiper blade, does the 2nd gen car still have this feature and is it just automatic? or did they ditch the ideal and just not change the windshield?
 
pektel said:
You guys are funny. This is the temp right now where I'm at. Of course, not including wind chill:
Click to expand...

Isn't that what happens when you unplug the HVAC unit from the car and plug it back in??:cool:

I thought I remembered some off the wall nasty number like that when I did my Double DIN install and unplugged that unit. It reset fairly quickly but started at double nasty negative and it was nice and sunny outside. ;)

It was a nasty 15° here yesterday (high of 18°) after being 65° on Sunday.
 
1LoudLS - I never hit that button on my car. It automatically turns on once it hits a certain temp. maybe they removed it since the button is pointless. Why turn it on when it's warm outside?

n8 - nope, no tricks. Just cold as a mofo right now. supposed to get up to 8 tomorrow though.
 
pektel said:
I never hit that button on my car. It automatically turns on once it hits a certain temp. maybe they removed it since the button is pointless. Why turn it on when it's warm outside?
Click to expand...

i think the biggest reason for the button is to turn it off when its cold and you dont want it on(why you would, i dont know), but ya, i would just like a light or somthing in the display to know if mine is on or not, and i am way to lazy to grab a lazer thermomitor and stand out in the cold
 
From what I understand, on Gen 2s, when you turn on the rear defrost the windshield wiper heaters come on too. Could be wrong, though. Mine don't seem to work anyway. They put in a new windshield before I picked up the car and they must not have done it correctly.
 
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