There is a mountain of things that can go wrong with a vehicle, and these mountains of things have mountains of symptoms ranging from smells to noises to jerks, to reduced acceleration, to your vehicle stopping altogether.
One of these symptoms is when your car makes a strange noise while driving, or when you are starting it. This can be quite frustrating, especially when you have no idea why. Therefore, why does my car make a noise when I start it?
The reasons why your car makes a noise when you start it could be because your battery is bad, missing or damaged gear teeth, problems with the flywheel of your vehicle, a faulty solenoid, or the starter itself has a problem.
Can a Car Make Noise When I Start It?
Yes, your car can make noise when you start it if there is something wrong with it. Your car can do a lot of unusual, unimaginable things when there is something awry with any of its parts.
For example, water can start dripping down from the engine of your car, smoke can start emitting from the bonnet of your car, the smell can come out from the exhaust system, and so on.
In the same way, your car can make noise when you start it. It can even continue to make noise as you drive it, and it can make noise when you switch it off.
Your car making noise is one of the regular symptoms that something in your car is not working optimally.
You don’t want to leave your car to put up with the noise as you go. You want to fix it and to fix a car, you need to know what is wrong with it in the first place.
Which brings us to the next question, what could be the reason that your car makes noise as you switch it on?
Why Does My Car Make a Noise When I Start It?
The reasons why your car makes noise when you start it are:
1. Bad Battery
When your battery is not very good, that is, when the power of the battery is low and isn’t recharging as it should, it won’t be able to stay on for a very long period.
For this reason, the battery will continue to switch on and go off at intervals, causing power to shift its balance, and this causes the grinding or grunting noise that erupts when you want to start your car.
Usually, batteries go bad once they get old. This is why experts advise that you change batteries at most every 5 years.
2. Starting Gear is Faulty
It’s also called a starter, and the function of this starter is to awaken your gear and kick-start it as you switch on your engine.
The starter functions like a small motor responsible for connecting your engine and your gear, and there are times when it can shift positions and get unbalanced. It can also become old and get worn out.
When the starter isn’t at the optimal position or the starter is bad, it causes your engine to make noise when you are starting it.
3. Malfunctioning Flywheel
Flywheels are part of the important functions in a manual car/vehicle, so this doesn’t apply to automatic cars.
Just like the starter that connects your engine to your gear, the flywheel is responsible for connecting your engine and the transmission of your vehicle.
At times, the flywheel can become worn out, due to corrosion or years of work. And when this happens, the information that the transmission passes to the connecting gears will become distorted, as the flywheel will skip certain transmissions.
When your flywheel is damaged, or bad in one way or another, you will not only get weird noise as you start your car, but you will also have trouble changing gears as you drive along.
What Should I Do to Stop the Noise?
Now that you have found out what could be the cause of the noise, you should run a diagnosis on it to know which of the three things it is.
The best way to know which of the three problems could have caused the noise, you need to pay a little more attention to the type of noise it is, and where it is coming from.
If it is a slow, steady but firm sound, chances are that the problem is a result of a bad battery. If it is a continuous, harsh sound, then your starter is suspect and should be looked into.
However, if it is a very loud, buzzing, or humming sound, then the problem is most likely from your flywheel, in a manual vehicle.
What do you do then, once you discover what the problem is and where it is coming from?
- If the problem is with the battery, then you need to change your battery or repair the one you have if it can be repaired. Repairing the battery could mean charging it at a battery charger or changing the wiring around the battery. You can get this done for as low as fifty dollars ($50) or as high as two hundred dollars ($200).
- If the problem is with the starter, you know you’d be spending nothing less than four hundred dollars ($400) to fix the starter. You are encouraged to use an expert to get this done. Doing it yourself can complicate issues further.
- The flywheel’s fault is more complicated than the rest, and you should take it to a repair shop. To replace the flywheel, you could be spending as high as one thousand dollars ($1000), or even more.
This is because you have to remove a lot of parts from your vehicle before removing the damaged flywheel and fixing it back. After that, you have to couple everything into its perfect position once again.
Cons of Car Making Noise When I Start it.
Nobody likes unusual noise for any reason. When your car makes a noise when you start it, it is not only an indication that there’s something wrong with your vehicle, but it’s also a sort of alarm that puts you on edge and irritates you.
Ignoring the noise that comes from your car as you start it also has health implications.
Another disadvantage is that you and your vehicle will be a symbol of disturbance in the neighborhood, not to talk about the embarrassment it causes.
Finally, and more importantly, having your car make noise and not doing anything about it can lead to the dilapidation of engine parts as your vehicle worsens, and can be very dangerous if you keep driving.
Final Thoughts
When you notice that your car makes unusual noise as you start it, check your battery to be sure it is still good, if it is, check the starter to see if it is still performing its function, and also have an expert check the flywheel.
The noise usually has peculiarities, depending on what is causing it, and once you find what it is, fix it as soon as you can.
