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2016 Growling Noise at startup

2.9K views 10 replies 7 participants last post by  ca smartone  
#1 · (Edited)
I have a new (just over 1K miles) 2016, Prime, ForTwo that frequently makes a growling noise at startup. It sometimes goes away after 10 seconds or so and sometimes lasts for a minute or two. It doesn't do it at every startup. I have tried all the combinations I can think of to nail it down but there seems to be no correlation between what I can control and the noise. i.e. A/C on or off at startup, immediately shift into D or R as soon as the car starts, sound system on or off, emergency brake on or off, foot brake applied or not. No matter what I do it seems to have a mind of its own and growls at startup when it wants to.

The car runs perfectly otherwise and never makes the noise other than the first startup of the day (and then not on a predictable basis).

I am wondering if this is indigenous to this vehicle or if something is wrong? I live about 70 miles from the dealer and based on the unpredictable nature of the problem I am not motivated to drop it off and leave it there for an extended period of time since I can't demonstrate the noise to them.

I have tried to record the noise but every time I am ready it doesn't do it and when I am not ready it makes the noise. Frustrating!

Any feedback or thoughts would be appreciated.

Neil
 
#6 ·
Just had our 2016 Passion about a month now... it makes a few little noises, on and off...I think most are just typical for these cars....but I did notice one noise my car made the other day I found strange, I was at a stop light, and I put down the gas to take off, not a hard take off or anything, and it made a sound kinda like, as best as I can describe it, like the car back fired...not quite that loud more muffled sounding...haven't heard it again...Anyone know what it could have been or experienced this?
 
#8 ·
. Keep your ears peeled for that sound, remote possibility it was a backfire in the muffler/exhaust system. My old Jeep used to do that on occassion but never amounted to anything. And this is just a remote guess from my house and may be nothing at all.
 
#9 ·
I am a fair "shade tree" mechanic. I ride a V8 Chopper Trike that I put a GM 383 Crate engine in. I have a 2012 Ford F150 that I put a new front pump in its automatic transmission. So...I am the type of person who needs to know what this noise is. Not conjecture but actually being able to isolate and determine exactly what is making the noise. I have tried to find it but with the "sometimes" nature of it, I cannot find the device / part responsible. I wish there was some good documentation available for these cars. I always spend the money and but the shop manuals for my vehicles. But, as best as I can determine, there is no good DIY info available?

Any detail help you can give me in isolating and determining what this noise is would be greatly appreciated. Thanks :shrug: