darn, you are probably right. The car only does it on a cold start. I have a warranty on it, so probably don't want to go through the hassle of having my check engine light turn on. Maybe I'll just go to porsche and tell them that there is a saw under my hood.

 

Oh, yeah. If you have warranty on the car just take it to dealer and explain when symptom appears. The key to repairing these things is to be able to reproduce the symptoms reliably.

Be sure to post a follow up. Ask how the cause of the noise was diagnosed?

(Might get a shrug and something non-committal: An auto mechanic friend of mine years ago told me that after a while when he or his co-workers saw a particular model of car come in they almost always knew what was wrong. Experience from working on the same brand of cars over the years pays off.)

Sincerely,

Macster.

 

well son, y'all gotta realize that 'non of us poor folk eer got warentees. Yessire go right on to Porch now!

 

So whatever happened with this? I've got a similar, but quieter, noise. It does seem to be the air pump as the noise changes/goes away with the pump unplugged. Do I just replace the pump, or could it be a hose/vacuum fitting somewhere in the system causing this?

Shawn

 

Sorry, no pics but
My air pump was doing the same thing, nasty saw like squeal when cold. I took it apart and found it was
chock-a-block full of brake dust. I blew it all out with compressed air, cleaned it all up and oiled the bearings upon reassembly. It has been blessedly quiet on cold starts for over one year now.

Super easy fix. Maybe 60 minutes fooling around.

 

Excellent, just the kind of thing I wanted to hear. I'll dig into it this weekend.

S.

 

Don't cut your fingers on the little table saws in that pump

 

Consider me duly warned

 

40A fuse (big sq one) for air pump is located behind rear seats on a relay board. You'll pop a CEL as Mac says if you start it up and run it with the fuse out so you'll have to find someone with Durametric software to clear it for you if you can't do this yourself.

 

I now have the "band saw" sound on cold start. Can someone post the location of the air pump which sounds like the culprit.

 

Im not sure but I think it is sitting right there on top mounted to the body.. In front of the coolant res.. Well behind it.. But in front of it from where you are standing.

 

Exactly.

It's painted black and you can clearly see the electric motor in the center of the unit.

 

Thanks for the info!!!

My car occasionally makes this sound upon start-up, however it doesn't do it everytime. I knew the sound was coming from the air pump but I just assumed the bearings were worn and I was eventually going to replace the unit. I'll give your cleaning trick a try.

 

Okay, this thread makes a LOT more sense upon reading it... When I saw the subject my first thought was "Holy crap, how loud does a sound have to be before you can see it?!?"

 

For the love of god that was a nasty noise. I would call it a band saw.