[edgarchieng]

Hi guys

Has any of you experience squawking noise coming from outside the car?

Not "squeaking" but "squawking" (like a single seagull squawk), it usually happens after the car has shut and driven again, so usually first thing in the morning or after car has been parked for while.

I can't tell if it's steering or suspension because it happens when I drive straight on smooth road. I usually get between 2-3 squawks after take off and then don't hear it again until after the car is restarted.

It's not brake either because it only squawks when driving forward.

It only just started a week ago and is becoming more common.

[edgarchieng]

This is the best I could capture the "squawking" noise.

Video no.1 the noise can be heard at around 5-6s mark. It's hard to hear from the Dashcam due to background noise but as you can see and hear, the noise occurs under perfectly normal driving condition

Video 2, noise can be heard 2s into the video. Again same condition.

[Legis]

I am by no means an expert, but could it be the air intake? Sounds a bit like when the turbo in my old Saab malfunctioned.

[iManu]

I have a squeezing noise when I'm in sports mode windows open while shifting gears... it sounds like intake or turbo dunno

[edgarchieng]

Originally Posted by emmanuel.yoo

I have a squeezing noise when I'm in sports mode windows open while shifting gears... it sounds like intake or turbo dunno

Definitely not the shifting sound as it happens in between shifts

[edgarchieng]

This time under light braking. From 2 second onwards in the video you can hear that short squawk. I kid you not it sounds like a magpie is living under my car!

[nyalpine90]

the car is fairly new, take the videos to service dept and let them figure it out.

[edgarchieng]

Originally Posted by nyalpine90

the car is fairly new, take the videos to service dept and let them figure it out.

That's the problem, a few technician at my dealership has taken the car for a drive and they can hear it.

They know there is a problem they can hear it but they don't know where it's coming from or what the problem is.

If someone else here has experience the same and had it repaired let me know what the problem is and I can let the dealership know.

[ParadigmDawg]

I can't really tell from your video but I have a sound, under the same conditions that I would describe as a "squawking".

[nyalpine90]

Originally Posted by edgarchieng

That's the problem, a few technician at my dealership has taken the car for a drive and they can hear it.

They know there is a problem they can hear it but they don't know where it's coming from or what the problem is.

If someone else here has experience the same and had it repaired let me know what the problem is and I can let the dealership know.

its time for you to contact BMWNA, have engineer take a look at it.

[edgarchieng]

Originally Posted by nyalpine90

its time for you to contact BMWNA, have engineer take a look at it.

We don't have that level of resource access in Australia.

My car has been in an out of the BMW dealership for the past 2 weeks and they can't seem to locate the source of the problem.

They can hear it and they absolutely acknowledged there is a problem, however the challenge is that it happens only when the car is in moving in motion. They said if they can't recreate or source the noise issue while the car is on a hoist it makes it very difficult which I get. They've tried to warm up the engine and drivetrain, put heat gun on transmission and suspension parts while on hoist to try and recreate it but failed.

So if anyone has similar experience and has managed to get it fixed then I would be forever grateful if you can tell me what the problem is so I can get the dealership team to fix it

[Lux700]

Where are BMW geniuses now?

An aeroplane crashes and it can be ascertained which tiny component caused the crash! You’d think that engineers and technicians could locate the cause of a squeak in a car, of which they are supposed to be experts on, as well as it being all in one piece, and there in front of them!

Take it to your local green grocers shop, they’ll probably have a better idea!

[edgarchieng]

So my M40i has been in and out of the BMW for 4 weeks in a row now and they still couldn't work out the source of the squawking noise.

Today they had BMW Australia head of technical actually sat in and driven my car around and even he was surprised of the noise and had never experience this with any other BMW ever, even other cars.

So next step is they are going to send the Chassis Noise Recorder which as an 8-channel mic that they will hook up to the vehicle to try and narrow down on the source location of where the noise are coming from.

But what I have been able to pick up which I have fed back to them is:

1) it only happens when driving on smooth road
2) happens after exiting a left turn (when steering has return to straight)
3) light throttle input (no more than 20%)
4) speed under 60kmph (37mph)
5) squawking noise is very consistent, squawks once only each time
6) it's a very controlled noise - meaning it sounds exactly the same each time just different loudness but the tone and the length (short burst) of the squawk noise is same each time
7) it's definitely is not suspension, wheels or steering because those parts, if they ever make any noise would be very variable

Can't believe my luck with this car really, my first BMW (have been staying away from European cars all my life) and it's causing me headache already.

[edgarchieng]

Here's two better sound quality video to show you guys the noise, which until now has not been fixed nor has the source able to be identified.

The car has spent almost a third of its time in my ownership in the hands of BMW Adelaide service centre, I've escalated through to BMW Australia HQ and they just sent me back to the dealership for further investigation. This has been ongoing now for over 5 months, so if anyone has any idea what is the issue it would be really appreciated

[edgarchieng]

Second video you can see how frequent it comes on almost once every minute

[SteveX3M40i]

Hi,
Do you have the standard or upgraded sound system?
I think the noise is possibly coming from the artificial sound generator that injects engine sounds into the cabin.
There is another thread running that discusses how to disable this system.
I would be getting the technician to disconnect that system and see if the noise is still there.
Cheers
Steve

[edgarchieng]

Originally Posted by SteveX3M40i

Hi,
Do you have the standard or upgraded sound system?
I think the noise is possibly coming from the artificial sound generator that injects engine sounds into the cabin.
There is another thread running that discusses how to disable this system.
I would be getting the technician to disconnect that system and see if the noise is still there.
Cheers
Steve

I have the Harmon Kardon system, this is definitely a mechanically generated noise from outside the car.

This has been verified by BMW technicians, they acknowledge the existence of the noise but they just can't pin point exactly the location.

This other owner has it worse than me since their car has done 15k kms mileage mine is just around 5k kms, but he also said it got worse over time.

X3M40i screeching noise Help https://x3.xbimmers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1557578

[MechX3M40i]

Agreed that sounds mechanical, something is rubbing??? I have no clue what happened but maybe a couple of questions may spark the thought process...

Does it happen mostly after you make a turn? Have they looked at steering column and suspension?

Can you try manual gear shifting to at least eliminate the transmission as a possible culprit?

[edgarchieng]

Originally Posted by MechX3M40i

Agreed that sounds mechanical, something is rubbing??? I have no clue what happened but maybe a couple of questions may spark the thought process...

Does it happen mostly after you make a turn? Have they looked at steering column and suspension?

Can you try manual gear shifting to at least eliminate the transmission as a possible culprit?

Definitely not transmission as I've experimented this on auto and manual shifting, as well as all driving modes (from eco to sports plus and adaptive)

As for if the noise comes on after I make the turn, I would say yes, generally after a left turn but when it comes in it will keep coming back intermittently even when you're driving straight as you can see for my dash cam video.

What I'm interested to know is what type of power steering does it have? And does this car comes with an active sway bar? And if it does, is there anything mechanically possible for the active sway bar to make these kind of sound.

Also the noise only comes on when driving on less bumpy road sometimes even on smooth road i.e my driveway!

[Tchgrif]

it almost sounds to me like a brake caliper is getting hung up, the "squack" is happening right after both turning and braking. to be honest in the first several videos i was thinking it might just be your imagination but the last couple videos.......that would drive me absolutely bonkers not to mention my terrier would think one of her squeak toys was buried in the car and go berserk.

[Max Well]

Originally Posted by edgarchieng

So my M40i has been in and out of the BMW for 4 weeks in a row now and they still couldn't work out the source of the squawking noise. ...

So next step is they are going to send the Chassis Noise Recorder which as an 8-channel mic that they will hook up to the vehicle to try and narrow down on the source location of where the noise are coming from. ...

Quite a mystery, edgarchieng, and can understand your frustration over this perplexing noise issue. Just a few questions and thoughts as your recent videos were quite illustrative-

1. by saying they used an 8 channel mic, does that mean one that localizes the sound in space? If so, was that not able to refine the potential source area any better, which could certainly provide a more focused analysis of possible causes?

2. and was the mic able to record waveform and frequency for further analysis or just dB and attempt at localizing?

Performing a GoogleSearch there appears to be rather inexpensive waveform audio software out there (one example was at https://www.nch.com.au/wavepad/fft.html , WavePad FFT Sound Analyzer (Powerful Audio Analysis Software) ), but I have zero background in this area so have no idea if it would be able to assist you in characterizing the sound, or whether that would even help to narrow down causes.

Another thought might be to see if someone at Univ Adelaide's Mechanical Engineering Dept would be curious enough to solve the mystery of at least what type of sound it might be. There appears to be an Emeritus Professor in their Department who has written extensively on sound analysis, and perhaps he (or his office) could at least point you and your Svc team in the right direction as to how to pinpoint and analyze it? https://www.who.int/occupational_hea...ons/noise1.pdf Emeritus Professor Colin H Hanson, Dept of Mechanical Engineering, Univ Adelaide

It sounds to me like the sound of an intermittent pressure-valve type release of air or gas, almost as if one had an air-filled balloon held closed with both hands using your index fingers and thumbs, and if you quickly pulled your hands apart briefly you could produce a similar impulse of sound? I just don't have enough automotive engineering knowledge to even guess what type of pressured air/gas systems would even be able to produce such a sound, if indeed that hypothesis is correct.

Certainly an interesting issue and hope you will keep us posted.

[edgarchieng]

Originally Posted by Tchgrif

it almost sounds to me like a brake caliper is getting hung up, the "squack" is happening right after both turning and braking. to be honest in the first several videos i was thinking it might just be your imagination but the last couple videos.......that would drive me absolutely bonkers not to mention my terrier would think one of her squeak toys was buried in the car and go berserk.

They thought it was the brake too but it's not. They've also disconnected the handbrake control module to see if it was the rear brakes going off but it's not

I also don't feel any braking sensation when the sounds comes on so I doubt it's the brakes