you didn't really give good info, specify in a little more detail what it sounds like. a rattling sound could be anything.
well its really hard to describe. it could be screeching...rattle snake...(when i meant 'rattling' i dont mean like something loose, so maybe that one is out). Ummm really the closest sound may be the rattle snake. It only happens when the car turns on. It just did it again when i started it up. I do have a car starter, but I got that a week ago and the sound had started way before if anyone asks if I have one. I guess the only real way to know what it could be is if you came to my house and heard it lol. But thats all I can think of to describe the sound.
do u have A/C? sounds like the clutch from the A/C compressor, but u said its on driver's side which makes that a lil hard. im guessing the noise is actually on the pass side but it sounds like driver's side.
Why would the A/C clutch, just start to rattle?
He said nothing about the A/C being engaged.
If he cant give better info about the sound though, no one can help.
Can you atleast open your hood and try to find what it rattleing, and then come back and post.
- 2004 Cavalier - 124k, owned since new
it dosnet need to be engaged to make noise
the van at my tech school (college) has an A/C compressor with a bad clutch and the damn thing sounds like a siren
Well i just thought that someone would have some type of clue. I mean, if i have to open up the hood and look at it while someone starts it and locate the problem, I'd rather just take it in. Like I said i don't know anything about the engine area so even if I figured out what it could be, I wouldn't know how to fix it, i would just find some prices to get it fixed without having to pay a ton for something little. Im just wondering if anyone has had this problem. I don't know any other way to describe it. No one has had that sound before??? I mean, I've heard my next door neighbor having that sound and he too has an '03, but I haven't seen him to ask if he's done anything about it. If I heard it on his car, I figure maybe someone else may have had that. I'll just have someone look at it. All I am asking for is for clues of what it could be. So I guess its not the starter/alternator. I thought it may have been that because it only happens when the car starts up.
Though I have a starter, my a/c clutch or whatever of that area is turned on so it can sit and warm up, but like I said before I had the starter (i only got it last week), its been doing the same thing--and I had the air (heat of course) turned off cuz it didn't need to be on if i didn't have the starter. But thanks for the responses I got. Not sure when i'll take it in, but I'll post up what was wrong with it if I remember to. I seriously have no other way of describing the sound so I apologize for that. Just thought someone has this problem and maybe could tackle it for me. I guess my neighbor and I only have this problem.
I am leaning towards one of two things, a bad serpentine (fan) belt or most likely a bearing in the alternator. To see where the sound is coming from, take a long thin piece of wood (like a rake handle) and place it on various components (or near various components - i.e. pulleys) with the motor running (but be careful not to come in contact with any moving parts). Any sound/vibrations will travel through the piece of wood (place the other end near your ear) and you should be able to diagnose exactly where the noise is coming from. This sounds kind of weird, but it works.
The only other thing is if your car is a standard, it could be the release bearing (throw out bearing). You would hear that on the driver's side. Try leaving your car in neutral and engaging and disengaging the clutch, pausing a couple of seconds inbetween.
Best of luck.
