Odd sound when I put it into reverse -- sometimes

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Bruce M.

Bruce M.

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Last night when I put the car into reverse it made an odd buzzing sound -- not a mechanical buzz but more like paper caught in a fan -- or if as a kid you put a playing card in the spokes of your bicycle in an attempt to make it sound like a motorcycle. It was very loud and almost sounded like it was inside the passenger compartment. It did it again this morning, but then a bit later I put it in reverse twice without anything unusual.

Has anyone else experienced something like this? Any words of wisdom?
 
Bruce M. said:
card in the spokes
Click to expand...
This first occurred when I put the car in drive (stationary) on my 2019 MY (Dec 2018 build date) less than 1 yr in. Cabin sounds close to the center floor area. (Very intermittent)
7 months later I traded in for 21MY, so never did establish cause. Suspicion of course leads to the GRU or motor following later posts.
Unknown if the direction of the motor would make any difference as I did not check if that was the case.

I assume your GRU oil has been replaced and checked for particles etc?
 
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I’ve not read of a similar complaint before. Could it be related to the media centre or audio system?
Perhaps try to capture it in an audio recording?
 
Stationary is the confusing part. There have been similar sounds described while driving, which has been attributed to various parts of the drivetrain... but if the car is stationary I don't know how it could be drivetrain related. Maybe a single clunk as the motor energizes for "creep" torque but the friction brakes hold it in place would make sense? Not an ongoing noise though.
 
Well, I have driven the car a couple more times since posting this and the sound has not recurred. It may remain a mystery
 
Well, I have an answer -- and a new mystery!

The sound happened again when I put my car in reverse this morning preparing to leave the house, but this time I was listening more carefully and realized the noise was coming from the driver's door. Putting the car in reverse causes it to automatically lock the doors, and that's where the sound was coming from. I tested locking and unlocking the doors with the button on the driver's door and it happened again. So... Yay! Not a transmission issue, just the lock. But why did it start doing this now?

And here we have a new mystery. I looked at the area around the lock on the inside of the door, where it meets the frame -- not, frankly, a part of the car I think about or look at much -- and see a bunch of small dents in the metal part of the door where it meets the door frame. Hopefully my first-ever attempt to post a picture on this site will work.
View media item 670
I have no clue when or how these dents occurred. There's nothing on the outside, which seems to rule out a break-in attempt. I have no recollection of ever having anything caught in the door that would make dents like this, and there are several of them (a couple of the smaller ones are hard to see in the photo). A couple times I have had a jacket sleeve get caught in the door when I closed it, but not lately -- I live in Hawaii, where jackets are rarely a thing -- and a jacket that's only cloth, no metal parts. I suppose the metal parts of the seat belt could do it, but I sure don't remember anything like that happening, and since the belt automatically retracts it's hard to see how it would happen. In any case, nothing remotely like that happened in the last couple days, which is when the noise started.
 
Bruce M. said:
Well, I have an answer -- and a new mystery!

The sound happened again when I put my car in reverse this morning preparing to leave the house, but this time I was listening more carefully and realized the noise was coming from the driver's door. Putting the car in reverse causes it to automatically lock the doors, and that's where the sound was coming from. I tested locking and unlocking the doors with the button on the driver's door and it happened again. So... Yay! Not a transmission issue, just the lock. But why did it start doing this now?

And here we have a new mystery. I looked at the area around the lock on the inside of the door, where it meets the frame -- not, frankly, a part of the car I think about or look at much -- and see a bunch of small dents in the metal part of the door where it meets the door frame. Hopefully my first-ever attempt to post a picture on this site will work.
View media item 670
I have no clue when or how these dents occurred. There's nothing on the outside, which seems to rule out a break-in attempt. I have no recollection of ever having anything caught in the door that would make dents like this, and there are several of them (a couple of the smaller ones are hard to see in the photo). A couple times I have had a jacket sleeve get caught in the door when I closed it, but not lately -- I live in Hawaii, where jackets are rarely a thing -- and a jacket that's only cloth, no metal parts. I suppose the metal parts of the seat belt could do it, but I sure don't remember anything like that happening, and since the belt automatically retracts it's hard to see how it would happen. In any case, nothing remotely like that happened in the last couple days, which is when the noise started.
Click to expand...
Likely the door lock actuator.
Glad to hear the problem is not in the drivetrain.
 
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I think the door damage could only be caused by closing the door on the seatbelt buckle. The retraction spring is fairly strong but I can see it happening if people exit as they unbuckle. My ICE has weak retraction and I often get tangled up as I leave.
 
My Hyundai dealer is booked up for non-emergency service visits till late August, so I will have to put up with the noise for a bit over a month. At least the door still locks.
 
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