Weird Noise When Starting Car

B

btfan

Active Member
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Every time I start the car, I noticed there's a one time loud clicking sound coming from around the glove box area. It happens as soon as the engine is being started.

It's a bit difficult to describe through words, so I captured it with my phone. The sound appear at the 12-second mark.



Any idea what is it? Normal?
 
I'm going to say not normal. I've never really heard something quite like that. Have you had someone else start the car with the hood open so you could listen in the engine bay? I would take the car to the dealership and let them hear you start the car. Anything they find wrong would be replaced free.
 
Problem is if I want my dealer to look at it, I need to allocate a time to leave the car there for at least half a day on a week day which isn't very convenient for me.

Actually i was kinda hoping someone would confirm it as normal. Now it's even more worrying for me. It's sounded more obvious inside the cabin than outside. I definitely can pinpoint the location as roughly just right behind the glove box but that's it. It always appear whenever i start the car in the same manner, 3 clicks (as you can hear from 11-13 second mark) and sounded quite mechanical.
 
Could it be whatever controls which air vents the air comes out of? Maybe it's the motors doing some kind of position check? That's just a guess. I have no clue how that system works.
 
You wouldn't need to leave it there... just drive into any dealership and ask someone to listen as you start the car. It'd take 20 seconds. They can say... oh, I think it's this, or that's normal, or we need to fix X part. They go back into the garage and look at the schedule and tell you when it could be fixed (if they think something needs repair).
 
Just an update. I manage to drop by the showroom for a quick visit and the foreman pointed out it's the electronic power steering (EPS) module clicking. There's no time to leave the car there for a detailed check up but we did look at one other 9th Gen there. Goods news (i think) is the sound is there as well but bad news is the clicking sound on that car is so soft it's barely audible. We literally had to put our ear right next to the glovebox to hear it and even then it's really soft. On my car it's loud enough to draw your attention.

Frankly I'm not too sure what to make of it. Is it a problem because it's distinctly loud?
 
I couldn't even tell when the click was on the vid. Lol. Can you specify which second it occurred?
 
thanks for updating. I'd imagine if you could leave the car with them, they'd replace the module to see if a new one resolves the issue. Seeing as how it's that loud, it could be obviously break at some point prematurely down the road. I'd try to schedule a time to have it looked at.
 
webby, that sounds serious but I suppose in the worst case scenario when that happened there's no power assisting the steering wheel but it is still usable?
Seems like you agree that it's too loud for it to be normal huh. I'm not sure if it can wait until the next service which is sometime next year.
 
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