Another important Car question(s)

[Quiet Stranger]

Hello all, me again, the guy who knows nothing about his car.

My problem this time is I've noticed this loud humming sound (or buzzing) that seems to come from beneath my car when I drive, now so you know, it only happens when I accelerate and even then it only happens when I accelerate and my car has been sitting for a while (say over night (shut off of course)) you really can't miss it, it's loud and annoying. What could it be?

Now my next question is when I reverse (it only happens when I reverse) you can hear a rumbling noise coming from the back under side of my car, it happens even more when I'm in reverse gear and have the brake on, what could these noises be?

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

Angry hornets.

 

[Johnnyallstar]

Well, I hate to tell you this, but it looks like your transmission is about to commit hari kiri.

 

[Ellstar1987]

Could be a hole in the exhaust system, just get underneath and check the pipes.

 

[Sleekgiant]

Bye bye tranny, hello new bill.

Thats pretty typical of those crappy front drive cars GM pumped out.

 

[Quiet Stranger]

Bye bye tranny, hello new bill.

Thats pretty typical of those crappy front drive cars GM pumped out.

I should mention its a 2004 Pontiac Grand AM

How much do you think it would cost to fix? and could it be the muffler??

 

[Insanum]

Wouldve thought it's something temperature related, But im not a mechanic (My dad is, But we dont have Pontiac's in the UK, so we cant comment).

Angry hornets.

You sir, Win the thread.

 

[Sleekgiant]

Bye bye tranny, hello new bill.

Thats pretty typical of those crappy front drive cars GM pumped out.

I should mention its a 2004 Pontiac Grand AM

Garbage car to me, pretty typical for it to break down.

How much do you think it would cost to fix?

Couple grand, depends where you fix it.

and could it be the muffler??

If it was, it'd make a noise at all times, since it makes noise during reverse manuevers, I think its the tranny.

 

[Quiet Stranger]

Bye bye tranny, hello new bill.

Thats pretty typical of those crappy front drive cars GM pumped out.

I should mention its a 2004 Pontiac Grand AM

Garbage car to me, pretty typical for it to break down.

How much do you think it would cost to fix?

Couple grand, depends where you fix it.

and could it be the muffler??

If it was, it'd make a noise at all times, since it makes noise during reverse manuevers, I think its the tranny.

Well my friends have told me for the accelerating part the muffler is loose, thats why it makes the noise when I accelerate, also it only JUST started happening and probably because of a certain thing that happened that I don't want to mention, mainly cause I wanna forget about it

 

[Sleekgiant]

snip

Well get that checked before, I really hate diagnosing cars, especially when given bad descriptions, just be ready to pay out your ass for some repairs, those cars are not the best.

 

[Low Key]

It sounds like it's the exhaust or something is loose in your undercarriage. I highly doubt it's your transmission. You'd feel the car start to have jerky shifts.

 

[Quiet Stranger]

It sounds like it's the exhaust or something is loose in your undercarriage. I highly doubt it's your transmission. You'd feel the car start to have jerky shifts.

What do you mean by shifts (so I know what to look for) and yes, a lot of people have told me something is loose

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

Angry hornets.

You sir, Win the thread.

My bro in law and his 4 sons are all revheads whereas I'm not. Whenever there's a fam barbie the talk always gets to cars and diagnosing some problem and after everyone else has had a shot I'm always expected to chip in so I either treat it as if the problem put forward was for a PC or just make something up on the spot.

 

[Low Key]

It sounds like it's the exhaust or something is loose in your undercarriage. I highly doubt it's your transmission. You'd feel the car start to have jerky shifts.

What do you mean by shifts (so I know what to look for) and yes, a lot of people have told me something is loose

I'm sure you have an automatic transmission, but there are still gears it goes through to achieve different speeds. If you can feel that when you give the car gas it hesitates a lot (a little is typical of older cars) before it accelerates, that's what I'm talking about. It'll be very noticeable when it happens.

 

[Quiet Stranger]

It sounds like it's the exhaust or something is loose in your undercarriage. I highly doubt it's your transmission. You'd feel the car start to have jerky shifts.

What do you mean by shifts (so I know what to look for) and yes, a lot of people have told me something is loose

I'm sure you have an automatic transmission, but there are still gears it goes through to achieve different speeds. If you can feel that when you give the car gas it hesitates a lot (a little is typical of older cars) before it accelerates, that's what I'm talking about. It'll be very noticeable when it happens.

It does "bog down" when I accelerate to say 60 to 80 (you know to go faster down the high way) but that's just the fuel lines, so I'm sure something is just loose, I'll get it checked tomorrow

 

[Low Key]

It sounds like it's the exhaust or something is loose in your undercarriage. I highly doubt it's your transmission. You'd feel the car start to have jerky shifts.

What do you mean by shifts (so I know what to look for) and yes, a lot of people have told me something is loose

I'm sure you have an automatic transmission, but there are still gears it goes through to achieve different speeds. If you can feel that when you give the car gas it hesitates a lot (a little is typical of older cars) before it accelerates, that's what I'm talking about. It'll be very noticeable when it happens.

It does "bog down" when I accelerate to say 60 to 80 (you know to go faster down the high way) but that's just the fuel lines, so I'm sure something is just loose, I'll get it checked tomorrow

That's probably just wear and tear, plus going from 60 to 80 is pretty hard on the engine and transmission in general. I'd say what you're experiencing is nothing to be worried about. You'd feel the hesitation through all of the gears if your transmission was dying.

 

[Quaidis]

It costs _ to fix it, however it costs far less to take it to a car fix-it place or your dealership to have it checked out. Tell them what the noise is, where you believe it's coming from, and what triggers it. And then you may find out what the cause is and how much it will be to fix. It could be something completely trivial and cosmetic.

I have had many cars with many problems. You would be surprised at the number of noises a car can make for stupid reasons. So telling someone a simple thing like, "It buzzes, and does it when I make the car go faster or go in reverse" will get people telling you that it's the end of the world for your car. I had a car that made a racket when I reversed and made turns. It was something in the AC unit. I had a car that made noise when I accelerated, it was a problem with the tire (and/or the brake. It was a long time ago.) And I had a car that made all sorts of noise when I put something in the trunk. That, sadly, turned out to be the transmission going. Strange how that one worked out.

 

[Blackadder51]

From your description sounds like the flux capacitor is starting to fail, however because thats expensive to fix, how often do you clean Mr Fusion, as sometimes that can also get dirty and fail to provide the power effectively therefore making those sorts of noises.

 

[Aur0ra145]

Might need to grease your propeller shaft.

 

[Quiet Stranger]

From your description sounds like the flux capacitor is starting to fail, however because thats expensive to fix, how often do you clean Mr Fusion, as sometimes that can also get dirty and fail to provide the power effectively therefore making those sorts of noises.

DAMMIT! I should have known it was the Flux Capacitor.....guess I won't be hitting 88 miles per hour anytime soon