Hey gang, I’m in the middle of our first long trip, and yesterday, while driving at night for the first time, heard a very weird noise while driving to the San Diego airport, to pick up my daughter. It started making the noise when an airplane was landing, and sounded very similar. I thought it was weird listening to the same whining noise for more than a mile, so opened the window, and it wasn’t plane noise. I couldn’t hear the noise anymore, so it’s quite subdued. Closed the window, and it was still there. I downshifted with the paddles, and identical pitch, so I eliminated the engine and transmission. It didn’t change with speed either, so that allowed me to eliminate the rest of the power-train… or any other rotating component, like wheel bearings. And car only has around 2,200 miles at this moment, so it’d be extremely rare anyway. My only guess is the stupid alternator, since I read it only charges at full rate with the lights on. Couldn’t turn the lights off to test the noise because Subaru removed the ‘off’ function, so the lights stay on. But after picking up my daughter, it was back to quiet… only to start again like 3 miles later. And it went from 0, to the same weird constant whining noise, immediately. And yes, it’s kind of an electronic whining, coming from the front. I could only hear it because radio was off. Today during the multiple drives, zero noise.
Finally, I could also hear the transmission whine more than I remember, especially on a heavy incline (+8 on the angle meter). I don’t believe the transmission was fully hot, since later in the day, the gear whining was back to what it sounds like since day 1 (nothing abnormal). So my guess is that was before the tranny was up to operating temperature. It was like 70F, while my garage is at nearly 100F, so that’s probably why I didn’t hear that before.
Anyway, are both of those noises normal? Hope so. Getting familiar with my first Subaru and first CVT. Thanks gang.
