I recently scheduled an appointment with my car dealer because my Subaru Forester has been making a metal-on-metal rattling/pinging noise sometimes during acceleration. It is inconsistent and doesn’t always happen, but I wanted to be sure there was not an engine problem.
The Service Dept. sent me the following questionnaire to fill-out and bring with me. I was astounded by the list of noises. It was hard to choose, and I couldn’t choose just one. The noise descriptions that follow the questionnaire didn’t help. I disagreed with some of the descriptions and choosing became harder.
I have enjoyed sharing this information with friends, and decided to pass it along to you in case you don’t already have it. I had no idea a vehicle could produce all of these sounds, especially growling and hooting. And now I finally know the difference between groaning and moaning, but then, I have never been on a ship.
In any case, my noise was diagnosed as “exhaust resonance” and “nothing to worry about”. I just wanted to share this experience with you. Questionnaire and descriptions are attached.
In at least one of my factory service manuals (Buick I think), they devote several pages to helping customers (not guests) describe noises and conditions to make diagnostics more precise. They simply listed standard industry accepted terms and their meanings such as a chuggle versus a miss. You may disagree with the dictionary but that doesn’t make the definition any less valid. On the board people refer to engine turning over meaning anything from the starter motor cranking to actual starting so it really helps if everyone speaks the same language.
Has anyone been able to open the PDF? I tried, but couldn’t. I googled around and found one PDF questionnaire online that was put together by NAPA.
Yes, I was able to open it.
I too was able to open it. Do you have Adobe Reader?
In the checklist area the noise “ticking” is misspelled as “TICKLING.” I would love to see how a mechanic will diagnose and repair a tickling car.
Thanks, guys. I do have Adobe Reader, but for some reason I tried on my phone and my computer, in different browsers, even…and the link doesn’t work for me. I wanted to share it with Doug. I’ll try later on when I get home again.
@asemaster, I picture a mechanic trying to diagnose one of the new VW bugs with eyelashes on the headlights choking, with wheezy laughter…
If you’re unable to get it opened, you’re not missing much. It’s just a long list of someone’s one-word descriptions of every conceivable (by the writer) sound. But my experience has been that one man’s whistle is another man’s hiss. I don’t know that attempting to categorize sounds has any value.
Of course, I DID spend four years living with aircraft with eight jet engines on them… Perhaps my hearing was affected?
Y’know that sound of someone turning a rotor on a shop lathe, on the other end of the shop around the corner ?
I hear that constantly. My life is never quiet.
So , for me to hear a little hiss or a slight squeek might be asking too much. On a bicycle tire inner tube I hold it close to my cheek as I slowly roll it around…’‘listening’’ for the leak, mostly by feel.
On a vehicle there is also a great deal of ‘‘feel’’ when diagnosing a ‘‘noise’’.
Plus, out here in the language menagerie it is quite the crap shoot if going only on a custmer’s words.
I have the latest adobe reader but it won’t open for me…It looks like it’s opening but there is nothing there…
I have the latest adobe reader but it won’t start to open for me
OK, disregarding the merits of the file’s contents…I was able to open it in latest Firefox, but not Chrome, IE, or Safari mobile. @SteveCBT, @Caddyman, which browsers were you using, if you don’t mind me asking? I want to report it if it’s not working. If anyone else has trouble opening attachments, let me know.
I may be paranoid but I will not know if I can open the file or not because I never open anything from someone I do not know.
I hear a lot of those same noises under every car I work on.
groan…moan…creek…clank
Oh, thats just me when I try to contort myself into a pretzle to reach that bolt …over the starter…under the manifold…just left of the firewall.
A clank; is when you go thru all that and a 1/2 inch from the bolt you’re trying to reach and the wrench slips from your fingertips. Then you here (*X%#X+?%$