Hi fellow HCH owners,

Just wrapped up my first tank 453 miles at 45 mpg or so... cool, but something funny is going on. I've noticed when starting out from a dead stop, a noise is coming from the engine that initially sounds like pinging but upon closer listening sounds a little bit like grinding. It's faint and can easily be covered by the radio at low volume, but concerning nonetheless. It only occurs when going from idle speed to a low RPM. If I start at idle speed and increase the engine speed by one or two hundred RPM (as you might do with a manual transmission to get moving), the noise is there for a second or two then goes away. If I rev up another one or two hundred RPM, it happens again. Eventually at higher RPMs the noise does not accompany the increases in RPM. The noise occurs whether the transmission is engaged or not.

Anyone else experience this or hear/heard this? Thinking I need to go visit my dealer, but I'd rather be prepared for the "that's totally normal speech" or the "I don't hear it" speech.

Your comments appreciated.

-O

I've got a 2004 MT HCH with 16,900 miles on it, I bought it used with 4,823 miles on it, and I have never heard anything remotely similar to your noise. It's quiet and perfect. Sounds like to me your issue is a repeatable problem, so I would not fear being able to get the dealer to hear it. My guess would be you definitely DO have some sort of problem that needs to be looked at.

I have a new 2005 CVT less than 1000 miles, no noise like you describe. Pinging could be substandard fuel, dont know about a grinding noise.