Loud noise problem in Chevy Aveo

Hello all. I'm new here and hoping someone can help with my Aveo's issues. I have a 2009 automatic Aveo.


It all started back after last winter. We had a rough winter. My car sounded louder to me. 10 months later the car is still loud and I(nor my son, husband, father or mechanic) can figure out what's wrong.


Car starts fine and no noises.but as you accelerate over 30mph the car gets louder and louder. When driving on a highway at 60-65 you can barely hear another person in the car talking.


It was taken for an oil change last spring where I was told it wouldn't pass the next inspection because of the ball joints and sway bar. Had both fixed. Problem remained. My husband thought it could be the wheel bearing. Both were replaced, yet the noise remained. My mechanic replaced the driver side wheel bearing again thinking maybe I had a defective one to no avail. He also offered to replace the passenger side as well but I'm not sure it's needed.


So that is basically it. A noise that starts at around 30mph and gets louder the faster the car goes. When slowing down the noise also gets quieter until it goes away when I hit 30 again. I've also been noticing my tacometer going a little crazy and revving up even when I'm not accelerating then going down on it's own. I'm not sure if it's connected to the loud noise issue.


Any ideas? Thank you in advance!


Regina

does the sound immediately react to the gas pedal? Like if your going over 30 mph and you let of the gas and gas it again, over and over does the sound change in rhythm??

It's not a sudden noise. It's more like a gradually almost like it's building up kinda noise. If I went close to 30 then took my foot off the gas the noise would gradually go down, until it's gone and hitting the gas again would start the build up once again.

I was originally thinking you might have had a bad flex pipe. But it would react to the pedal more. But still have the >30 mph requirement. if your mechanic replaced the bearings, and you did as well i am guessing it is a metal "scrapping" noise, and not an exhaust, thumping or vacuum type of noise?

if that is the case, then it could also be axle joints, or your transmission (final drive or a gear). do you have a way to post the sound while driving?

It doesn't sound like anything is scraping. It almost sounds like a bad muffler sound. But the muffler has been checked. Also I don't think the noise can be heard from the outside. I've had my passengers try to listen while driving at a higher speed and it doesn't sound loud outside. At least that's what they said. I've also rolled my window down while driving and really don't hear anything from the outside.

I wont be driving until the morning on my way to work. I'll record and try to find a way to upload then add it on here. Thanks for your help so far.

If it does sound like a bad muffler, I would check the condition of the flex pipe. Its hard, if not impossible, to pin point noises over the internet, but based on your description, it would have to be load conditioned, so it would need to be a flexible part issue. The flex pipe and intake tube are the only two things in that area that will be "loud" You might have have an issue with a vacuum on the variable geometry intake. But that would't be as loud.

I can't see how a mechanic could miss this if it is a exhaust, but the flex pipe can reseal it self.

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Originally Posted by Regina

It doesn't sound like anything is scraping. It almost sounds like a bad muffler sound.

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A quick way to tell if it's engine/exhaust-related is to release the gas pedal and shift to neutral while at highway speed (when it's safe ... nobody riding your bumper, obviously). If the noise goes down immediately (because the engine RPM and load drops) you have your answer.

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Another potential culprit is bad tires. I've seen very noisy tires caused by a broken belt, creating a rumble/roar at highway speeds. Obviously the noise is proportional to road speed and gets worse the faster you go.

My mom had her car in to the mechanics 3 times last year for an annoying droning noise at highway speeds (similar to the noise of a bad wheel bearing). They kept sending it back saying "nothing is wrong". So I swapped her wheels with a set from another car and the noise was gone. Turned out 2 of her tires were bad.

Good point about the tires, some can be noisy as heck. First thing I thought of is could there possibly be a broken splash shield in a wheel well catching and rubbing somehow at speed? Or maybe a heat shield/part vibrating on the floor?? So hard to tell over the internet, but look for anything loose under the car or near the wheels that might rub a moving part at speed, or 'flap' with wind. These can make sound that increases with speed.

I took a video. It's kinda long, but you can hear the sound. Towards the end I turned the video to my speedometer so you can see the noise going up and down depending on the speed of the car.

Don't mind the oil light being on. It just turned on this morning on my way to work. The tire light is another bane of my existence. But the noise was there before the light came on. That's for another post I guess. As far as the tires, I had 4 new ones put on this July. The noise continued on...

So the video didn't load..let me try something else.

You can email it to me if you're having trouble: admin at aveoforum.com . I'll post it tomorrow.

Or post it on YouTube.

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Originally Posted by Regina

Don't mind the oil light being on. It just turned on this morning on my way to work.

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http://www.aveoforum.com/forum/images/smilies/stop.gif DON'T DRIVE WITH YOUR OIL LIGHT ON! :stop:

Or your car will soon make NO noises on the highway... because you need a working engine to get on the highway! :D

Check your oil level/add oil before you use the car again. Seriously.

Finally able to get it uploaded
http://youtu.be/R8lWE93TPIA

Is there a vibration that resonates with the noise? Do you hear any noise while turning at low speeds? I'm thinking maybe a bent cv shaft but I'm just guessing - for what its worth.

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Originally Posted by MetroMPG

:stop: DON'T DRIVE WITH YOUR OIL LIGHT ON! :stop:

Or your car will soon make NO noises on the highway... because you need a working engine to get on the highway! :D

Check your oil level/add oil before you use the car again. Seriously.

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Metro,
I looked at the video and the light that is on is the oil change light. No harm in driving with that on unless you go for a REALLY long time before changing the oil.

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Originally Posted by EAD15

I looked at the video and the light that is on is the oil change light.

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HA! Thanks. I hadn't seen the video yet and assumed the worst.

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Quote:

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Finally able to get it uploaded
http://youtu.be/R8lWE93TPIA

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After listening to that, bad tire(s) still fit as an explanation.

Have you isolated where the noise is coming from (front/back/left/right)? Which wheel bearings were replaced (front/rear)?

Both front wheel bearings were replaced. The driver's side was again replaced a few weeks after the first time. If I had to guess where the noise is, I have to say right under the driver's side from the middle over to where the pedals are. Mind you I never seat in the passenger side.

Hi,

Did you find any solution to your problem ? I face similar problem too.

Late last year I had what I thought was a front wheel bearing that sounded awful. Turns out my mechanic said it was a brake pad starting to seperate. The original rotors needed to go as well. New pads and rotors, and now all is good.

is it any louder than it seems in the video? I would say that sounds like tires to me too. Like MetroMPG said. I can't say it is anything specific, honestly through half that video I was debating if i was listening to the heater fan.

The noise I hear can easily be tires with too much toe, gets louder with speed, etc. Which is the alignment, which they should have done with the bearing was replaced. When my bearings, and cv joints go, you usually hear a slight clicking around turns, or something. Your noise stays steady and even the turn signal at the end is as loud as the noise.

If your mechanic was competent, and you even had the bearing done a second time, he should have ruled out everything else.

Another vote that it's probably tires.

I went through the same scenario last year-- loud noise, increasing at speed -- replaced both front bearings with no improvement. Garage finally put it on rollers and got no noise at speed. Deduced it was tires, replaced them and all was quiet. I never knew tires could make that much noise!

We have this same noise on a 2004, (78K miles) seemed to get worse sometime after hitting a significant pothole but not immediately. Anything actually fixed it or are we still guessing? I suppose replacing the tires and then looking at rear wheel bearings. Any shops in the Albany NY area that know Aveos and that I can trust?

It could be vibration specific to that RPM - some cars (Volkswagens) have this problem a lot and it could be something similar in your G. Check the bolts on your exhaust manifold heat shield are tightened


Also check and see what RPMs you're running at at 45-50 mph. Try to hold those RPMs in a different gear (or while sitting in neutral) to see if the noise occurs then as well

Its not related to engine RPM, just road speed. Now that we replaced the tires with quieter ones, we can tell its a little noisier when turning right. I'm going to start replacing wheel bearings, we'll see how it goes. I checked them by simply jacking up the car, spinning wheels, checking for play but there was nothing obvious, no play or nothing lose anyway.

Was video taken while having a window open? If open: sound could be from a poorly finished or old highway (concrete), which makes noisier wheels. If done with a closed window it could be one of these:


Rear bearings: a simple spin while jacked up, even with no play, if it sounds like grinding sugar.. you´ve got a dry bearing, when speed increases noise will increase.

Are you using same size (#) of tires on all 4? & wheel size?

Well inflated tires?

Maybe got a screw, nail or other lodged in a tire, jack up & spin em one by one looking carefully. If you find one don´t pry out by yourself tire will deflate (radial tire only- cause if you are using tire with tube it would have gone flat by now).

Maybe a loose splash guard, bumper or other ... which vibrates with the wind & produces are noise?


RPM meter: well thats a tough one, I sometimes get the unsmooth movement in the hand when shifting down (quick speed decrease) to go over speed bumps, AIC valve is regulating to compensate gas/air flow, although Ive never seen it do it when going at a steady speed (like in video)

On mine there is no noise when spinning any jacked up wheel, there is no grinding or roughness. There is a YouTube video of a tech spinning a wheel while touching the spring to feel for roughness that I'll have to try.

Just to update, my issue turned out to be a bad rear wheel bearing. This being a one piece hub drum type, it was an hour fix, both sides. Most of that time was scrounging around for the right size wrench and replacing the ABS sensors.

great! & thanks for the update.

This thread has been quiet for awhile, but I think I have something to add. My '09 has been making the exact same noise (as far as I can tell from the description and videos). It started last year or so and has been getting progressively worse. Speed-related vibrations are driving a resonance, and the roof is acting like a soundboard that fills the cabin with a deafeningly loud, low-frequency hum. It's almost subsonic. You don't notice it too badly (but you do notice it) until you try to talk or listen to the radio and have a hard time deciphering the voices. The noise comes on around 50 kph and gets louder (with a little bit of variation) as the car speeds up. It's intolerable above 110 kph. As far as I can tell, speed is the only factor, with steering, the wind, bumps, etc having no effect.

The car has ~150k kms and is still using all four original shocks/struts. They've been slowly giving out for years and I need to replace them asap (just inherited the car from a friend). After reading this thread, I guess I should also check the bearings, tires (which are new), and the alignment, but regardless, I definitely think my problem and that of the OP is road noise transmitting up through the suspension and resonating out through the roof. The shocks/struts should be a major player in this. So for those who found changing other components mysteriously didn't help, or only provided temporary relief, I'd say check this next (or first).

any news? have same issue "Car starts fine and no noises.but as you accelerate over 30mph the car gets louder and louder. When driving on a highway at 60-65 you can barely hear another person in the car talking." It sounds like a broken muffler and it gets louder with speed. Flex pipe replaced - same issue. checked all 4 bearings - no play.

Found the problem - front wheel bearing. It didn't make any noise or play until I took out axle from the hub. Then you can feel the grinding noise.

I have a similar issue and believe mine is a ventilation issue. If I'm driving into a head wind over about 50 MPH, my car "sings" to me. Sounds somewhat like an old school failing speedometer cable noise would make. It's coming from the front interior tunnel area under the dash. Drove me crazy at first, now I just accept it, turn off the radio and try to endure...