Bringing in the wifes Hyundai to the dealership this week. Immediately after starting it continues to make a 'clicking' sound from the engine bay (passenger side) and then stops after a few seconds. Did this intermittently at the start of the Summer but now does it pretty consistently. No other symptoms. Car starts and runs fine (for a Hyundai).

Was thinking it's either a belt or the starter but figured I'd see if anyone else could hazard a guess before I brought it in.

Loose serpentine tensioner or idler pulley? Perhaps the bearings are shitty and they are "clicking" from dirt buildup.

They "warm up"/"move the dirt around" and it's all fine and dandy.



Orrrrrrrr

Depending on miles.. busted valve guide? I'd almost have to hear the clicking to be sure.

If the engine was properly maintained I'd almost put money on bad bearings in the tensioner or idler pulley on the serp belt...

Engine only has 30k miles and 'properly' maintained as in it's had the oil changed every 3-5k.

Bear with me for a minute since the only thing I've done with pulleys/starters/alternators/belts is replace my RX8s starter.

Idler would make the sound when it's idling and the serpentine belt is used all the time, right? Sound is only apparant immediately after startup. It almost sounds like the starter is still spinning even after the car has started but it's not making the annoying click of a starter firing when the battery is dead - it's just like a rapid, repeated noise that fades a few seconds after starting. But if it's the tensioner could it just not be tensing up the belt for a little while giving more of a flopping noise?

I'll see if I can get a recording of it tonight or tomorrow morning. I want it anyway when I stop by the dealership in case it decides not to make the noise anymore which as far as I can tell is what happens 94% of the time you bring a car to a mechanic with a strange noise.

Serpentine belt = accessory belt.

Typically at startup the engine (especially when cold) idles faster to warm up quicker. IF it is a bad bearing in a pulley (idler or tensioner) the pulley will wobble, or make a griding noise like there is dirt in the bearings.

You said that it would happen for a few seconds then go away. This "could" be a sign the the bearings are starting to go. Now that it does it all the time the bearings are most likey shot (provided that is the cause of the noise)

If it was the starter it potentially could be so loud you would shut the car off. I've had a bad solenoid on a starter that would continue to fire after the key was released from the start position and basically it will push the gear out and grind the hell out of the flywheel.

Now, I have also heard starters that have so much dirt buuildup over time (high mileage engines) that it makes a faint grinding noise immediately after the car is started, but nothing that lasts more than a second/second and a half.

Hope that helps some. I'll be up in that area all weekend if you want me to take a look at it. I'm doing doc's coilovers on Sunday and will be up at Megans Saturday probably from mid day on.

That actually sounds more like what I'm hearing but faint doesn't really cut it. It's definitely noticeable.



Definitely helps. Just gives me some idea of what I can troubleshoot. I'm planning on hitting up the dealership before this weekend to get it diagnosed. Of course I started it last night (warm) and didn't get the effect and then started it this morning and didn't get the effect. However listening to the engine it does sound like something in the pulley system is clicking which might point to the belt.

Here's a youtube last night from starting it w/o the sound. I'll keep taking them until I capture it before I go to the dealership. The first video is actually a little clearer (I was holding the camera). The second isn't as clear as the camera swung around when I started it and I didn't notice so it recorded more woods than noise. It's also moving so don't watch if you get seasick. Camera has a crappy mike but takes awesome vids.

<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/il8WiMB9HBc&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed>

<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Cg-E6n9EdK4&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed>

On the 6S the noise isn't faint, or like a grinding. It's a noticeable squeal from the clutch material.

Anyway, that noise sounds like it's belt/idler related to me. I'd guess that the accessory belt is on the pass side? Also beware as a bad bearing on an idler pulley can in time cause bearings in more expensive parts like water pumps and alternators to fail prematurely.

Sounds about right to me too...

I haven't posted the noise yet.

But yeah something related to the belts/pulleys/idle is probably the problem and the overall noise you guys are hearing reinforces that the belts and bearings need looked at.

So there is something else?

I thought I heard some funkiness going on there....

oops...hehe.

There is a bit of a rattling noise going on in the first video that sounds a bit like what I remember of idler bearing noise. That being said, the noise i remember was from almost 20 years ago on a car made almost 30 years before that, so it may not be relevant.

GOT IT!

Sounds about a thousand times worse hearing it with the hood open. Keep in mind this is the same engine in the last two youtubes.

Did you figure this out yet? Was it bad bearings on one of the serpentine pullies? I kinda doubt that’s it, because it is funny how the noise disappears...I would almost guess that the tension spring on the serpentine belt is bad and its loose at first and then the centrifugal force of the belt causes the tension to increase once it gets moving.

Please post the cause and solution...I'm curious.

That makes two of us. Have a date with the dealership next week so I should have the cause soon.

Wow, no rush I guess. You've been putting up with this for how long now?

It's been getting progressively worse for the past 6 months from happening 'very rarely' to now happening every other start. I didn't know it had gotten worse because I wasn't driving the car until a few weeks ago and my good wife failed to tell me about it. Shocking.

It's fully warrantied so I'm not really sweating it. Hyundai may make some shitty cars but they back them with relatively decent warranties.

My opinion exactly.

So. 6 months later (probably 9 months since the problem started) I was finally able to get it to make the noise for them and they had the right tech listening (I got the noise the first week of April but nobody there was completely sure).

Anyway the answer to the riddle was the crank tension adjuster. I actually knew one of the other guys there today and it's a pretty common problem (he said he's done over 30 of these repairs himself).

Essentially the spring that supplies tension adjustment is bad either due to the oil pressure or just a bad spring. My money is that it has to do with the wife not changing the oil frequently (she went 10k once - pre-wifey status).

Should be fixed next week. I'm gonna try to convince them to let me try out a Genesis coupe. If I can get it for a weekend I might go AutoX.