05, 72K on original motor.

So this just happened to me and it has only happened once. I pulled into my garage and shut off the car. Once I got out, I heard a noise coming from the motor, lasting maybe 1-2 seconds. It seemed like it was coming from the passenger side. It sounded like air releasing, but a very low noise, almost like a cat purring. The sound came in intervals of 30-40 seconds and went on for 5 minutes. Would of went longer, but I decided to move the car and get better access to the passenger side.

Once I moved the car and stopped the motor, the noise disappeared and it has not returned. Any idea what is caused this. The car had been sitting for several days outside and when I first used it today, it really smelled like exhaust. My daughter said she heard a whining noise after the car was started, as she was outside of the car. In addition, it seems like the car is smelly (exhaust) after each start today.

My first thought is air injection due to the whining noise, but yes a cat lodged in my motor crossed my mind.

 

The noise is probably the air pump when the car is starting, it makes a whooshing sounds when working properly and a whine when they start to go bad. Was the car hot when you shut it off for the other instance? The fans can continue to run even though the car is off to cool the engine, that could produce a noise similar to what you describe and is normal. The noise would be most noticeable from the area between the hood and the front bumper. Those would be my two guesses based on your observations, but hard to know for sure. Try to post a video?

 

I'm pretty sure the whining noise my daughter heard was the secondary air pump, it did seem quite a bit louder than normal today though. The fact that it was louder today makes me wonder if the pump is going out and that's what I was hearing with the car off.

But when the car was off, it definitely wasn't the fans. It was an intermittent sound, like air being released. It was happening every 30-40 seconds, not a constant fan swirl.

I've got a video on my phone, I'll see if I can post it somewhere.

 

I posted the video. After listening, it actually sounds like a flute.

You can skip to the 30 second mark to hear the sound and again at the 1:15 mark.

Video is

 

grab a shotgun and find the owl lol. idk what that is maybe the weird coolant cap venting that you have on the car

 

You know, we could see a LOT more of the engine bay, if you filmed it in landscape. Portrait video is a disease in need of eradication.