My wife and I own a 2009 Hyundai Santafe with relatively high milage at just over 170,000. It has been a great car and has had very few issues since we bought it. Two days ago I noticed a noise that sounded like a percolator under the hood. I popped the hood and looked everything over, checked coolant and all fluids, the belt and belt system, and found nothing odd there. I checked the engine temp and rpms and nothing was off. After playong with it for a bit I noticed if you give it gas, the noise stops. Now today we noticed that in reverse the noise gets louder, and no longer sounds like a percolator but more like something rattling around. The steering wheel has also locked twice at low speed in a sharp turn and in reverse, which I attributed to the wheel bearings needing to be replaced. But I am not sure what the noise under the hood is or how to fix it. Any advice would be great. Thanks.
Percolator sounds are often due to air trapped in the cooling system. Do you notice any overheating problems? Does the dash coolant temp gauge always remain steady & close to the mid-range position once the engine warms up? Any signs of coolant leaks under the vehicle?
If the problem is air in the coolant, that wouldn’t explain the other problem of the steering wheel locking up. for that I wouldn’t guess faulty wheel bearings myself. Sounds more like a steering rack or steering/suspension part problem. Could be an ignition switch ass’y problem too.
I’d say adding the steering locking and the noise indicates a bad serpentine belt or tensioner.
I have pulled the belt off and it looks good, and Ichecked all the pulleys. The only one with any wiggle is the pulley directly next to the alternator pulley. Someone suggested it may be something wrong with the power steering pump. Thoughts on that?
The engine temp guage is always right where it is supposed to be. I replaced the thermostat in the system late last summer and have bot had issues with the cooling system since