2005 Automatic, base model. Lately, when I start the car up after the engine has been cool for several hours, there is an awful noise coming from what sounds like to be in the upper left area of the battery (next to the alternator). It sounds like a sawmill is about a quarter mile away when the hood is closed....which is surprisingly scary to be a very accurate description of the sound. After the car has been on for about a minute the sound rapidly dies down and is eventually absent. No other symptoms are present....car runs just fine as it has for the 3-4 years I've owned it. Could somebody enlighten me to what is causing this sound? And how urgent should an inspection or repair be executed? Due to the sound I'm very concerned, but due to the fact that the car is normal otherwise I'm not terribly worried. Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

its the air pump. it only turns when you start the engine. its going bad thats what it sounds like. just wait till its dead either replace or delete it.

 

can you get a video of the sound? would help a lot.

It's possible that it's the air pump

edit: yeah what jason said lol

 

I love the sound, it's like I have my own personal saw under my hood. Last for about 10 seconds on cold starts. So dumb question but how can you tell when it's gone?

 

i successfully took it apart, lubricated all the contact surfaces in it and re assembled it and its been really quiet running ever since. granted i only hear it once a day. so its do-able. so far (almost a year) its holding up really well. upon disassembly, i found some corrosion looking stuff and dried white grease looking stuff around the contact areas inside. i tried white grease cuz thats what looked like what came out, but it was whining loud again in a month or so. so this time i tried petroleum jelly and its holding up fine.