Funny Noise

loz

Hi ,
Recently my car has stared to make a funny noise - right after ignition there is a 1 second or so gap then another noise - like a short screem - the same kind of nise you get when you try the ignition when the car is already running,


any ideas ?

Renault Megane - 97

Seth Brundle

'fan'belt?

loz

kbannon wrote:

'fan'belt?

no i think its too short a noise - only half a second or so in duration, sounds like when you leave the key round when you ingite that grrneeekk sound

pbergin

What kind of car?
The variator in Fiat and Alfa can go and cause a similar noise.

MercMad

You may have a starter motor problem. The bendix is supposed to shoot back in once the motor fires, they flywheel out accelerates the starter so this gear gets driven back to rest !

Something is getting lazy !

Unfortunately thers not much you can do but have the starter checked/removed/replaced, and also have the flywheel ring gear inspected !

What mileage ?

It could be a belt chirp though or from the power steering pump !

loz

its a 97 megane - 89k

just have 2 weeks ago - full service plus timing belt.

MercMad

Get a mechanic you know to listen to it !

In the meantime dont worry about it. After all if this car is new to you it may in fact be a normal characters=istic and if not it still shouldn't let you down over Christmas !!

ciarsd

Sounds like the starter motor, bendex not retracting quick enough when engine fires.

The fix can sometimes be just a cleaning and re-greasing to keep nasty elements out. Worst case, a new starter.

AMurphy

MercMad wrote:

You may have a starter motor problem. The bendix is supposed to shoot back in once the motor fires, they flywheel out accelerates the starter so this gear gets driven back to rest !

Something is getting lazy !

Unfortunately thers not much you can do but have the starter checked/removed/replaced, and also have the flywheel ring gear inspected !

What mileage ?

It could be a belt chirp though or from the power steering pump !

Funny Noise, that's a laugh...

Anyway, from the descriptionyou provided thus far, I'd go for this diagnosis.
It may respond to removing the started and lubricating sliding items in the mechanism, or it may be a simple broken return spring, depending on design.

attend to this before it removes teeth from the ringear, in which case the complaint will be you get the sound BEFORE it starts. Then you'll have 2 problems to fix and the current starter one is the cheaper of the two.

However, is the sound a kind of screeming/ratcheting or a high pitched squeeling smooth and no ratcheting or grating, etc.
If smooth high pitched and tapering off towards the end, I'd look at the belts, (alternator often squeels when loaded down to recharge a cold battery, immediately after starting) if grating, ratcheting, grinding, back to the starter as above.