Strange sound at start up
 

Ok gang this sounds strange. It has been just about non-stop thunderstorms around here this week so I just figured it was ironic timing that 4 times in a row when I started my car and backed it out of the garage, it sounded like a prolonged low rumble of thunder. I did not pay much attention to it until this afternoon when I did the same thing (backing out of the garage) and I heard the thunder sound again, but it was not raining or thundering outside. For the first time in a week it is sunny so I might be losing my mind, but I am hearing the same thing again and again. The radio is off, and the A/C is always on auto at start up, but the low rumble is still easily heard when I back out of the garage at start up. I made sure I was not crazy and asked my kids to listen for it too and they did validate the same sound. What the hell could that be? Before I bring it into the dealer I would like to be able to point them in the right direction first. The sound goes away after about 10 seconds. Any ideas?

I get the dummy award. Last week I ran over a stick but thought nothing of it. I just happened to approach the car this evening from the passenger side and with a another car's headlights that just happened to shine on the passenger side of the car, I noticed something sticking down under the car. It was that stick! It somehow got wedged under the car and was rubbing against the passenger side front tire. Problem solved. I removed it and now the sound is gone. I feel stupid for even raising the question on the board.

I think it's great! How many times do we fear the worst and start looking for the most complicated problem? If we'd just chill, step back and look around, sometimes the problem has a very simple solution.

Stuff like this has happened to me dozens of times, not just cars.

You diagnose and fix issues better than most dealers. Congrats.

Totally by accident. If I did not walk towards my car from the passenger side, I would be at the dealer today, then feel stupid when they found the same thing. Oh well. I'm still averaging around 31 mpg per tank on average at more than 70,000 miles. Very happy. Love the handling.

No dummy award needed, RLX-Sport Hybrid. You heard a sound that was unusual, you had no reason to believe it was anything but a possible mechanical issue, you discovered the cause, you saved yourself the hassle and expense of a visit to the dealership service department....I say - Well done.

Rattles and unusual sounds in a vehicle are very hard to pinpoint. I once swore I had a rattle in the driver's side dashboard area and it turned out to be a flashlight in the glove box making the noise.

So I was speaking to a friend of mine last night sharing with him about my thunder noise which turned out to be a stick rubbing against the wheel, when he said that he has a similar situation in his house. He thought he had a mouse or something that got into several of his walls so he called a pest control person to see how to get rid of it. After spending a lot of money doing various things, he was so frustrated that he kept on hearing the sound in his walls so he opened one of them up. To his terror he discovered it was not a pest that invaded, but that part of his foundation had settled and he had structural damage to the house! All of the rain of late on the east coast apparently undermined part of his foundation of his house! His quote to complete all of the repairs (starting point) is $250,000! The expectation is might be way more than that by the time all is said and done. So the sounds he was hearing was actually the house shifting and putting pressure on different points in the structure. The moral of the story I think is some noises are easy to discover as a source and can easily be rectified, and others...

I just thought this might be an interesting point of conversation this morning.

Holy smokes. . . . . .1/4 mil? Your self diagnosis was much less painful, at least on the pocket, than your bud. Here's to hopes an insurance bailout is an option!

He does not know if it will be covered even though he has flood insurance. He has the funds, but just does not want to spend it that way. He was about to start a large renovation and expansion on the other side of the house. Bummer for him. He is pissed.