Lend me your ears! [EDITED]

"Shour, Aloof and Obnoxious" (shour) 06/06/2018 at 10:35 • Filed to: None

0

13

So, my boat LS400 does this thing that I have never had a car do before. Finally got around to recording the phenomenon. When I first start her up after sitting a while, there’s this extra sound coming from the engine bay. Once she’s warmed up, it goes away. (There’s more wind noise than I would like in the vid, but I still think you can hear it fairly well.) Once I start the car, you can hear what it sounds like...and then at about 1:41, the extra “wooosh” fades out, and by 1:45, the engine sounds “normal.”

So, if I start the car up, and DON’T wait 90+ seconds to get rolling (which, I typically don’t because THAT’S FOREVER), she runs and all, but the throttle response is slower than when the wooosh goes away. She basically feels like a 1970s land yacht for a bit, then it’s like she gets her muscles warmed up and then she’s back to being a modern land yacht.

Soooo...what IS that? (I will note that the LS is actually the first automatic I’ve ever owned and dailied. Sure, it’s been over two years now, but this has been going on for sometime, and I didn’t even notice until...well, probably sometime last year. Just didn’t care enough to post about it.)

EDIT: To all of you posting Men in Tights gifs, you win. A winner is you. This made my day. (Also, I’m going to be singing Men In Tights/Jews In Space for the rest of the day. Also, did you know that they were the same song?)

Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer > Shour, Aloof and Obnoxious 06/06/2018 at 10:52

1

Mechanical fan? My truck does that and that’s what I’ve always assumed it was. Seemed a bit odd that the clutch would be engaged when the motor was stone cold but I couldn’t think of anything else. And it does sound like a noise a fan would make, so I didn’t think any further than that.

FWIW it seemed to ease up in hot weather. Most noticeable in the winter. Don’t know if that lines up with your noise or not

InFierority Complex > Shour, Aloof and Obnoxious 06/06/2018 at 10:53

4

farscythe - makin da cawfee! > Shour, Aloof and Obnoxious 06/06/2018 at 10:54

3

(im inclinded to agree with small bear)

razorbeamteam > Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer 06/06/2018 at 10:55

0

That’s what I thought, a mechanical fan that’s on its way out. I believe they are supposed to fail so they are “on” no matter what. So it could be stuck on, (causing extra drag on the engine and the whooshing) but gets freed up once its been spinning for a bit.

Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer > razorbeamteam 06/06/2018 at 11:00

0

I always assumed it was normal, after all it always goes away. That said I haven’t done any actual research... no matter, if it fails I’m going E-Fan anyways.

farscythe - makin da cawfee! > InFierority Complex 06/06/2018 at 11:04

0

dangit... beat me to it by a minute apparently...

buggery

you win today

razorbeamteam > Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer 06/06/2018 at 11:13

1

Same, mine has been kinda doing the same thing and I’ve been wanting to swap out some electric fans. However, my project list is about a mile long and its at the bottom.

adamftw > Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer 06/06/2018 at 11:22

1

Yup, mechanical fan. That’s normal operation, all the viscous fluid sits on the bottom when it’s not moving, and once it starts spinning the fluid starts viscous-ing.

adamftw > razorbeamteam 06/06/2018 at 11:23

1

Nope, thats normal operation. Actually, when the fan clutch fails, it won’t do this.

His Stigness > Shour, Aloof and Obnoxious 06/06/2018 at 11:30

3

Your fan clutch is bad. See video below for an in depth analysis of how vicious fans work, but basically, when the car is cold the fan isn’t supposed to spin at the same speed as the engine is so as to aid in warmup. As the clutch wears out the fan will start to spin with the engine and cause a drag, also make that noise.

Shour, Aloof and Obnoxious > Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer 06/06/2018 at 11:33

1

I first noticed it in the winter as well, but it’s still doing it in the summer. But your conversation with Razorbeamteam has been enlightening. Will look into it.

Shour, Aloof and Obnoxious > His Stigness 06/06/2018 at 11:34

0

Thanks. How easy is something like that to fix? Like, this is more Pep Boys and not certified Toyota expert territory, right?

His Stigness > Shour, Aloof and Obnoxious 06/06/2018 at 12:25

0

It should be pretty straight forward, you’ll just have to get the fan clutch tools in order to do it. But you should be able to find those pretty cheaply online. The set I gave for BMW and Mercedes was pretty cheap.