Hello, we have a 2005 Jeep Liberty. It has about 150000 miles and every few days it makes a sound like a guitar string breaking. sometimes, while we are driving, other times as we wait on a red light and sometimes after the car is turned off. any ideas what could be causing this?
Any chance you could pick a different auditory imagery? I have a guitar that I play with on occasion, but I have never broken a string and am having a hard time deciding what it sounds like. I will imagine, however, that it is a very brief and sharp kind of sound? Add some more description.
It would also be helpful if you tried to give some idea of where the sound might be coming from. Inside? Outside? Front? Rear? Left side? Right? etc.
It is a short pinging sound under the hood
(I should have been a dentist).
And does it ping only once? Or is it a whole bunch of pings? If more than one is there any kind of rhythm to it? Does anything speed it up or slow it down? How long does it last? Presumably its a relatively new sound? Or has it always been there? Have you ever actually lifted the hood to look while it was pinging?
Short of a real description I’ll just mention that heat shields are often a thing to check for random kinds of sounds.
Sorry, I guess it’s like pulling teeth.
It’s only 1 short ping, no rythm to it, the car runs like always, no slowing down or stalling when it pings. And since it is so short, just like plucking a guitar string, and most of the time it’s while wer’re driving, we can’t look under the hood. The mechanic can’t find anything. This has just started a few months ago.
I have broken thousands of guitar strings since about 1968. Most of those on my bass guitars, the big fat strings. ( I would step to the mic and anounce that I have broken my G-string and need to take 5 )
I have been an automotive parts man for 35 years.
I still cannot draw an equivilance between the two sounds.
Does your car have an accelerator return spring ?
Maybe it’s getting caught sometimes and pings as it finally releases itself.
My guess is that you are hearing a loose heat shield on the exhaust system. It might have something of a “sproing” sound of a broken guitar string.
Get underneath when the truck is cold and shake/inspect all components of the exhaust system, starting at the engine and working you way back to the tailpipe. I think you will hear it. Use a heavy gauge pick!