Hey Rennlist,

My brain is being fried by the faint high pitched noise coming (it seems) from the front of my car. As soon as the car's electrical system is on, the noise starts. It only goes away when the car is fully turned off - engine and electronics.

I measured the noise at about 15.7Khz - has anyone heard of an issue like this or have any advice on what I should do to fix it? I am losing my mind.

 

Is it the headlights turning on?

 

Sound is persisting even with headlights off - is there a way I could test if it's headlights related? I did get a bulb changed a couple of weeks ago.

 

If the noise is present with the key turned to the 1st position you could get a fuse/relay print out and start pulling fuses and relays until it stops.

Start with the headlight circuits.

Just a thought.

 

Ok that was super helpful, pulling fuse B9: Instrument cluster and Steering column stopwatch stopped the noise!

Any sense of what the issue is in this case?

 

Do you hear it from outside the car? Have you removed the battery cover panel and listened near the firewall? When you say front do you mean up by the headlights or does that mean front of cabin, like the stopwatch bump? Do you have ACC?

 

Do you hear it from outside the car?

No the noise is only interior to the car. It can be heard loudest near the dash and the stopwatch.

Have you removed the battery cover panel and listened near the firewall?

Yes and no noise.

When you say front do you mean up by the headlights or does that mean front of cabin, like the stopwatch bump?

Front of cabin.

Do you have ACC?

No.

 

i just checked mine to see if there was maybe a faint sound that maybe for you had gotten louder but i heard nothing.

i'm curious how loud it is. you mention you measured the tone what about the decibels? do you hear it over the engine while driving?

 

you mention you measured the tone what about the decibels?

It hovers around 20dBA.

do you hear it over the engine while driving?

yes - it's actually given me a headache. Unfortunately my mechanic and my audio specialist both can't hear it

 

hovers around 20 dBA and yes can hear while driving!

 

I think it is time to disconnect the stopwatch and listen.

I am not certain if the car will want to throw a code with it disconnected. If it does, I am not certain that it would go away after reconnecting, (anyone know what to expect here?)

YMMV.

Given the fuse label and the sound coming from dash center vs instrument cluster, I would be thinking stopwatch.

Note: Pictures usually come AFTER the text referring to them in the service manual.

 

You sure it's not coming from the right rear? When in ACC ON, I can hear some sound which appears to come from the front but it's actually from the rear right side. I don't know what it was, I only hear them in the garage, but never noticed it outside.

 

stopwatch disconnect didn't fix - thx for the pdf following the instructions worked perfectly

i guess it must be the instrument cluster

 

yeah it's definitely from the instrument cluster/stopwatch area

 

I actually posted something similar years ago that I don't remember anymore, until I did a search just now. Guessing it's probably not the same for yours.

https://rennlist.com/forums/991/9439...-position.html