Hi all,

2002, outback ltd. auto, 225,00 km

I have an intermitant noise which appears to be comming from behind the dash on the drivers side.

It is a hight pitched whine that stops and starts. It only seeems to appear when I am on the freeway at speeds of 65 + mph.

It seems to be activated sometimes by a bump in the road but not always, sometimes just will start whining for 1 or 2 seconds then stop then statr then stop. only at high speed. It does not last long and is non existant below 60 mph.

Could it be spedo cable?? Is it easy to lube or replace? If not spedo then what do you think?

 

Thanks

No cables on that car. The speedometer is electronic.

 

I'm not sure how the speedometer drive unit works, but there could be a motor on the back that is going bad and making noise.

 

Often sounds from under the hood can be mistakenly thought to be coming from the dash. I would make sure the belts and tensioners are in good shape.

If you have the h6 engine, the tensioner bearings are known to fail on those.

It is a 2.5 and the hg and timing belt were changed at 160,000 km.

I will check everything. Thanks

Update,

 

Well I had everything checked under the hood, belts, tensioneers, pulleys etc. Took my mechanic for a drive and of course it didn't do it.

As a matter of fact it seemed to have dissapeared until last week when I was on the freeway and suddenly it was back.

A high pitched whine that started and stopped that sounded like it was comming out from the dash right near the vent.

I decided to turn off the AC, and radio put the window down and stuck my head out to see if I could hear anything.Of course it didn't do it.

I put up the window and it started. Light went on in my head. Opened the window, noise stopped. Closed window noise resumed.

It is comming from somewhere inside the door and is either the glass or some component vibrating. It seems to only do it if there is not a good seal when you close the door and can hear wind noise which is to say that it all depends if you close the door with the window up or down.

My question now is...how big a job is it to remove the panel from the door to see what is going on. Or is there someway to make sure I get a good seal between the top of the window and the gasket.

I am so relived to discover that is not comming from the engine compartment that if it is too big a job I may just live with it.

 

Thanks

Ahh. Gusset seal noise probably. Next time you notice it push on the top corner of the triangle seal on the front of the door.

Thanks, I will try that