Is it normal whenever you press on the gas petal and the car makes a ratchet noise that is separate from the engine noise? now bare with me as i elaborate.

its very subtle, but at the same time is noticeably different and separate from the engine reving. it sounds like a separate plastic sounding rev that is tied with whenever you press on the gas petal. it doesnt sound smooth when you gently press on the gass, but as you push harder it kinda syncs up with the engine noise and becomes more smooth as you go faster and push the gas faster. gosh i dont know how else i can explain it. i'll try to explain more if ppl still dont understand.

ohh another way of explaining it is, it sounds like the rev if you were accelerating in reverse, but a little less, but with an added ratchetly noise. again not very smooth but not really loud either. but still louder than the engine.

also my sig for my car's details, pretty much stock AT.

 

Can you do a video so we can hear it?

 

i guess i can try recording the sound on my ipod, but i i think the engine noise will just cover it

 

Mine is manual and not automatic, but I might know what you're talking about. I was wondering the same too. It only happens on the first gear. It doesn't make this noise from 2nd gear and up. There was another thread talking about this, so I just thought it's normal.

 

can you point in to that thread?

 

i made a sound recording but donno where to upload it, youtube wont take it, any suggestions?

 

http://www.mediafire.com

 

http://www.mediafire.com/?c3tyyd46j115lrv

ok hereh it is. its a sound file no video, so i'll try to describe whats going on.

i first accelerate when i say "now" at 26secs

at 51secs you can hear it the best

now i'm talking about the deep rev sound. its slower than the engine noise where it blends in with the road noise. i dont think thats the engine, but i could be wrong i'm not very good at identifying sounds.

longer i drive the less noticeable it becomes

 

All I heard was the engine and a high-pitched noise throughout.

 

anything about that sound out of the ordinary? does that high pitch noise sound normal?

 

I listened to the video again and I believe the high-pitched noise is related to the noise you're trying to describe. It does not sound normal to me.

If you want to try to pinpoint it more on your own you could try this: On the road, shift the car into neutral and see if the noise changes or goes away. Rev the car a bit. See if you hear the noise with the car still in neutral and the engine free to rev. Don't forget to let the revs settle back down at idle before you put it back in drive.

Otherwise take it to the dealership and ride along with a technician. There is definitely something amiss.

 

I know what you're talking about, it's more audible when accelerating in a narrow alley or when accelerating next to a wall or another car. I hear it more commonly on Toyotas equipped with a timing chain and what I've heard about that sound is that, to my understanding, it's the slight play that the engine's timing chain has.

 

that sounds kinda right jnaval, but now i'm worried about the high pitched whine

 

I would say don't worry about it, alot of cars seem to have a faint whining sound when accelerating, sounding a bit electronic too. Worry only when it sounds like grinding or when it's an extremely loud squeal. If it still worries you, go to a dealership and test drive the same car to see if the sound remains, then you can rule it out as a "common" noise.

 

usually straight cut teeth in the trans will make that sound, its the same or close to what you hear in reverse. its not causing any problems, just noisy. i dont know about an AT though. if its getting worse, take it in

 

i am actually seeing a different issue too with the manual. i will be in gear and take my foot off the gas, press the clutch, and watch the RPM go up... thats kinda weird to me, i have also seen the RPM bounce between 1 and 2K sitting at a light. anyone else seen any of this?

 

The RPM going up after you let go that gas and then press the clutch is caused by the driver by wire thing. It feels weird.
It took me some time to get used to it too.

For the RPM jumping while sitting at a light, it never happened to me. Mine always sits are 600. I've heard of others here having that problem.

 

drive by wire is garbage. if that bouncing thing happens again, im going to take it in.

 

take it in

 

I think I know the noise you were trying to describe. I get a noise in 3rd gear mainly that you could describe as "ratchety." I'm not sure what causes it but I assume it's normal.