punkigor

Hi Everyone,

I'm looking for help diagnosing a chirping noise coming from my 08 xD. The car has only 12K miles on it and I just noticed the noise (although my spouse drives it daily, but she is oblivious to car signs of all sorts). The chirping type noise happens when I just start accelerating. Does it in all gears (manual transmission), shift up or down and it does it. It happens everytime I touch the gas pedal very lightly, and goes away the second I apply more gas. A very light touch on the throttle will do it. I'm not sure where it's coming from: initially it sounded like it was coming from the rear, but I had my wife drive it and ran along side it and it sounded like it was coming from the front. But it will not do it when idling, or when revving the engine when stopped. It only does it when moving. Has anyone ever had such a sound? I thought it may be something in the drivetrain but at 12K miles, there should still be plenty of grease in all the fittings and joints. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!!

Gmonroe80

I'm waiting for a response, i have a 08 tc and it does the same thing, its like a light bird chirp, i hear mine in the front left wheel, only hear if for a second or two while accelerating thru gears.

JJGeneral1

i'll check my 2010 d tomorrow on my drive to work. i'll listen, and see if i hear anything. i got 14,200 miles on mine. i'll let ya know if i hear anything.

Bamapolar

I'm hearing a similar sound on my xb. I thought I had it narrowed down to the belts. I'm at 42k miles so I'm about to replace my belts and see if that helps. I know I have more mileage than you and I'm sure your belts don't need replacing yet but it could also be a belt tension problem. Just throwing it out there. I hope it's something that simple.

Btw, mine gets worse with the a/c running, which puts a little more strain on that belt.

Good luck

JJGeneral1

I didn't hear anything this morning on the commute to work. I will listen again on the drive home (stop n go traffic is great for slight acceleration).

RS_5.0_wifey

It could either be a belt (my corolla did this once when I spilled washer fluid on the belt). If the belt's not bad, you can try to rub it down with some bar soap. This will cheaply and safely lubricate it. You might have to do this every so many miles. Also, it could be a loose pulley, but I doubt it with that low of miles. I'm not sure if your car is equipped with a harmonic balancer, but it could also be a possibility that it needs tightened (if it gets too loose it will start SHREDDING belts and then it's "car no go"). I figure you probably just unknowingly spilled some sort of fluid on it. Soap it down and it should be ok.

RS_5.0_wifey

Ignore my horrible English. In my defense, I've been writing a journal article all morning.

punkigor

Thanks for the replies everyone. Gmonroe80, it sounds like you have a similar noise. It's very tinny sounding, like a small metallic bird chirping. The reason I don't think it's the belt is that a) it's still too new, b) I didn't spill anything on it recently and c) it is not constant. It could be the tensioner though.

I just took it out for a drive with a dealership mechanic and he couldn't hear it even though it was making it. I tried to point it out, but to no avail. He's going to throw it up on the lift to see if he can see anything loose or dry in there. The car has TRD lowering springs and a swaybar in the back, so it could be just something making noise when it loads up the suspension. Or maybe something like a wheel bearing, given that New England streets eat suspensions like they're breakfast.

Anyway, if anyone can think of anything else to investigate, let me know. And I'll post if I get to the bottom of this.

JJGeneral1

nothing on the drive home. i don't have lower springs or a sway bar... that could possibly be it.

combatsteve

my stock intake made a little whistle at certain throttle positions. specifically when I first hit the gas from idle or between shifts. Now I have an CAI on it and it is even more noticeable. Oh yeah it is an 07 tC

hobojon

Somebody else posted about this problem and it ended up being a vaccuum leak If I recall that was attributed to the dealer changing the fitting for the vaccuum supply to the brake booster (the cold weather state recall).

punkigor

Hobojon, can you give me more details? I did have that vacuum supply fitting changed as part of the cold weather state recall. I wonder if that's what it is?

spinthetension

I was the one who had hat problem. It sounds exactly like what I had wrong with my xD. You press the gas pedal ever so slightly and it makes a whistling noise.

Have you had the brake recall done on your xD? The problem with mine was the throttle body needed to be adjusted. They said that it was a vacuum leak, and had to adjust the throttle body plate, I think. There's a plate they had to adjust, and it was a quick fix. Took them about 10 minutes to fix, and it was free.

Take it to the dealer and have them check out that plate/throttle body. If it's not that it could be a loose heat shield.

Good luck!!!