I searched and i didn't find anything on this. Maybe i just never noticed but my car makes a loud clanking/ticking sound from underneath in the center of the car when the car is shut off after driving for bout 15 mins. it sounds like it is coming from the exhaust pipe maybe. i will get it checked out when i go to get my oil change in a month. the car drives fine. i was just wondering if anyone elses does this or is it just me.

 

any scraping?

 

no i never bottomed out or anything. i dunno what it could be. i just would like to know if anyone elses does it. if not then it must be mine only.

 

I notice that if I run my AC for extended periods of time, get stuck in bumper to bumper traffic, or after a road trip I hear the pinging after I turn the car off. (It's especailly loud in the garage.) It's normal. My gf's Matrix does the same thing, just not as loud as our tCs.

 

Fuel pump, maybe. It happens evertime you shut off your car ,right?

 

Sometimes the exhaust system cooling can make a bit of a ticking sound. Could be something to do with the cat and resonator cooling down and the metal expanding/contracting or whatever it's doing.

 

Mine does it. Most cars do. It's the exhaust components expanding and contracting while cooling down. It should stop after a few minutes.

 

HR_GUY is right...it's the metal components expanding and contracting from the heat and pressure they've been under while you were driving. When you run the AC, they will become more heated up and expand and contract more when you shut the car off. Nothing to worry about. Its just metal doing its thing trying to adjust to the outside temperature after being extremely hot.

 

thanks to all that responded. i guess i never really paid attention to it. it does stop after about 15 mins. when the car is cooler. whew! what a relief.