I pull into the garage. Put the car in park. Turn off the power. Open the door and walk away. As I walk away the car makes a mechanical sound; a constant, single-pitched sound; a sound sort of like a motor moving something. The sound lasts for about 10 seconds and then all goes silent. Am I doing something I shouldn't be doing? Is this normal? Anyone know what this is? Thanks for reading the newbie question
There is nothing to worry about that motor running is the coolant pump pumping coolant back into the thermos. Some other noises you might here are coming from the emissions system. You may also here some of the same noises when you start the car.
There's also a test cycle in the brake system, which runs the brake accumulator pump. This happens a few minutes after switching off.
Wow - thanks everyone. Glad to know the car takes such good care of itself. This forum sure is helpful. I really appreciate the feedback. It's such a relief.
I'd suggest that you close the door before you walk away. As you have already been told the noise is normal and shutting the door wont stop it, but it is a good idea to leave the doors shut on any car which is unattended.
Thanks, Pat, for that useful suggestion. Perhaps one of the mods can make it a sticky. Don't you have some snow to shovel? Tom
Yep. If the OP wants to repro the ratcheting noise, just pump the brake pedal a few times. It'll do it even w/the ignition off.
If I recall correctly, the car can keep the liquid hot in the thermos for up to two days and assists in heating up the car when it's turned on and also helps to provide relatively instant heat when heat is needed in the cabin. Quite a neat system.
There's a list of 'unusual but normal noises' somewhere in the manual. In that list, I seem to recall there is an item that says the fuel system will perform a leak check about 4 hours after the car is shutoff. Has anyone ever witnessed/heard that one? I'm way too impatient to do it on my own.....
It reads like this: 1. MMMMMMmmmmmmm 2. Phffft phffft phffft 3. Ekkie Ekkie Ekkie Ptang Zoo Boing 4. Ni! 5. swish swish oompa loompa chitty chitty bang bang
IIRC, it's 5 hours and the car came w/a tag briefly discussing this. Yes, I've heard it when in the garage. IIRC, it's a fairly soft electric motor running (buzzing) whir/buzz sound. It runs a LOT longer than any of the other noises on shutdown. I've never waited in my garage until it stopped so I don't know off hand how long it runs, but it's probably in the order of at least several minutes.
