[Jpizzo]

Drove the Stelvio back from work(1 hour drive) after an hour I went outside and I could here this intermittent buzzing coming from the engine,(the engine was shut off). After starting the engine and letting it run for a few minutes and shutting it off, the buzzing disappeared. Any ideas what this could be? https://youtu.be/YmFmivULqC8

 

[STLV]

I get something very similar, but doesn't cut off like that.
After shutting off the engine, maybe 20-30 seconds later, I get 5 seconds of buzzing (a bit deeper tone than the sound from your video though).

 

[ALFAOFFROAD]

That doesn't sound great....

Like an electric motor binding maybe??

Or encountering more resistance than expected...

Not normal at least. Deaper trip probably, sorry...

 

[R Leong]

I get something very similar, but doesn't cut off like that.
After shutting off the engine, maybe 20-30 seconds later, I get 5 seconds of buzzing (a bit deeper tone than the sound from your video though).

We all get a deep hum after shutdown. This has been discussed in other areas of the forum. Your sound is a higher pitched beep. That is different. On the other hand, lots of stuff happens that doesn't recur after a shutdown and start up. But the beep is different than what has been on the forum..

 

[R Leong]

Sorry for any confusion, I was replying to Jpizzo and the beep. Couldn't find the edit button today for some reason.

 

[AlfaSprouts]

I was perusing the Owner's Manual and I noticed an odd suggestion on page 141. Maybe this will alleviate your buzzing problem?

 

[Marco]

Unfortunately that's one of the drawbacks of a turbo charger .... it needs to be cooled. But you dont need to sit in your car for 3 to 5 min after reaching your destination. Just make sure that a mile or two before your final stop the turbo is not under load. Try to coast it home. In other words dont drive it hard right before stopping and then shutting it down. This is especially true if you are travelling in hills and steep climbs when you have the turbo under load. When that turbo is humming at 10, 20, 30000 rpm (or whatever it is) and you shut off the oil supply to it .... well do the Math. Try to practice this behavior and make it routine every time and all the time.
So this makes the disabling of the auto start/stop very important if you are driving it hard. You cant/shouldnt come up with a situation that after driving hard you stop at a traffic light and have the engine shutoff. Most modern turbos have a turbo timer, where after a shutoff of the engine, the oil cooling pump still runs for a bit.
Personally i still practice the old routine of coasting home about a mile before shutting it down and not worry about it. I do it as a routine behavior now and dont even think about it. Its in my DNA now(no pun intended)!

 

[StelvioQuad]

The sound that Jpizzo is experiencing seems more significant than the turbos needing to be cooled/lubricated doesn’t it? I do think Marco has great insight too though.

 

[AlfaRomeoCares]

Drove the Stelvio back from work(1 hour drive) after an hour I went outside and I could here this intermittent buzzing coming from the engine,(the engine was shut off). After starting the engine and letting it run for a few minutes and shutting it off, the buzzing disappeared. Any ideas what this could be? https://youtu.be/YmFmivULqC8

Hi Jpizzo,
WE understand why this may be concerning. We recommend having your dealer look into this if it continues to happen. You may also send us a private message and we will have this documented and provide you with additional assistance while your vehicle is at the dealer.
Lydia
Alfa Romeo Social Care Specialist

 

[ALFAOFFROAD]

Hi Jpizzo,
WE understand why this may be concerning. We recommend having your dealer look into this if it continues to happen. You may also send us a private message and we will have this documented and provide you with additional assistance while your vehicle is at the dealer.
Lydia
Alfa Romeo Social Care Specialist

^^^^^^^ what Lydia said.


If it is still doing that..get to the dealer.


That is not the cooling pump for the turbo, unless the pump for the turbo is binding/encountering resistance of some kind. If that is the case it will eventually lead to turbo failure and engine problems. This would be covered under warranty most likely...however it will take a long time to repair versus if you get to it quickly before any damage happens it will be quick and easy probably. (depends on the diagnosis...that noise could be a lot of things...none of them good.)


If the noise stopped, cool. Enjoy your car.


If not...GET TO THE DEALER ASAP. Then enjoy your car.....


Hope you get this solved quickly and easily.


@Marco's advice about turbo's is very good..however the car does circulate oil after shutoff...including if the auto start/stop system activates, so it is less of an issue than it was 10-15 years ago when it come to cooling the turbo down. Warming it up though is still an issue. The turbo is not lubricated when the engine first starts up and it takes a second to fully circulate the oil into the turbo and get all the parts lubricated for use. For this reason you should not drive the car hard, keep the revs low and use of the turbo limited for the first couple minutes of driving. Revving a turbo engine hard right after start up causes more wear in 30 seconds than driving for an hour at 80mph. Remembering to coast home is good, so is remembering to drive easy for the first couple minutes. (Full disclosure...this is the greatest weakness in my driving habits...I have a lead foot and have to remind myself to go easy everytime I start the car...sometimes I forget...Ok, Ok, most of the time I forget...then remind myself after I start hard acceleration at takeoff...)

 

[Marco]

@Jpizzo it really sounds like a seize after something tries to run, and fails. Could possibly be the compressor. I dont know. But have you experienced any sluggishness or longer delay when you step on it? have you seen any small oil spots under the car? its hard to know if there is an oil leak without removing the protective tray under the engine though. As a first check i would ask the garage to check all oil and fluid levels.
A visit to the dealer is a must and should do it ASAP. Please let us know what you find.

 

[Jpizzo]

Hi everyone, thank-you for all the messages. I just dropped off the Stelvio to the dealer, and hopefully they can get to the bottom of this. Video taping the sound was very important as this is not the same sound that happens when the engine is shut off. The service rep passed the video around internally and no one has seen(heard) this issue before. I will definitely keep everyone up to date. Thanks again!

 

[Jpizzo]

It seems the Alfa techs weren’t able to find any issues. They tested all the modules and nothing was found. They were not able to recreate the issue, so at this point I have decided, on their recommendation, to take the car home and document when it happens again.(if it happens again) The good thing is that it has been documented in their system and if something drastic happens because of this issue it will be covered under warranty. Glad to have the Stelvio back!

 

[Cornbeef]

Mine does this too..... I figured it was something like a fuel pump shutting off or something

 

[[email protected]]

It seems the Alfa techs weren’t able to find any issues. They tested all the modules and nothing was found. They were not able to recreate the issue, so at this point I have decided, on their recommendation, to take the car home and document when it happens again.(if it happens again) The good thing is that it has been documented in their system and if something drastic happens because of this issue it will be covered under warranty. Glad to have the Stelvio back!

I received the same noise in my car earlier today. I took the car for 5 mile drive. came back and when the engine was off for 15 min. came to car to do something and i hear the same noise. then i drove for another 15 min. and then it was gone. Next time i get it I plan to take a video of it to figure it out.

Jpizzo,
What state you live in?
Which dealer you have taken the car to?

 

[ALFAOFFROAD]

Never heard this in my car..but I gotta admit to not really paying attention now like I was. After 10k with no problems I kinda figure things are fine unless it drives different...


I'll start listening for noises after shut off..... The noise in that video really did sound like a problem however if it doesn't happen all the time or even regularly...it could be it is just a fluke, or it could be a problem that is really hard to diagnose until it gets bad enough to be consistent. Either way only thing to do is to pay attention to how the car behaves under acceleration and deceleration in particular, but chances are if it doesn't make the noise all the time it isn't a big deal. My assumption when someone say's their car is making a noise is that it makes that noise regularly...all cars make weird noises every so often...so do most people....as long as it only happens every-once-and-a-while it isn't an issue normally.
@[email protected]'s comment about it happening after a short drive is interesting...does that sound normally happen after short drives, but not long ones? Could be as simple as something shutting off before getting fully lubricated, in which case the sound is normal in that circumstance...if the problem persists you should keep a notebook and make notes on what happened, how you were driving, the times you heard the noise to see if you can find a sequence of events that the dealer can replicate to try and diagnose the noise when they have it.

 

[Jpizzo]

Just an update to this post. The intermittent buzzing noise has not re-occurred. I will keep monitoring the situation and let everyone know.

 

[Jpizzo]

It seems the Alfa techs weren’t able to find any issues. They tested all the modules and nothing was found. They were not able to recreate the issue, so at this point I have decided, on their recommendation, to take the car home and document when it happens again.(if it happens again) The good thing is that it has been documented in their system and if something drastic happens because of this issue it will be covered under warranty. Glad to have the Stelvio back!

I received the same noise in my car earlier today. I took the car for 5 mile drive. came back and when the engine was off for 15 min. came to car to do something and i hear the same noise. then i drove for another 15 min. and then it was gone. Next time i get it I plan to take a video of it to figure it out.

Jpizzo,
What state you live in?
Which dealer you have taken the car to?

I am in Toronto Canada and we are fortunate to have 3 Alfa dealerships in the Toronto area.

 

[AlfaRomeoCares]

Mine does this too..... I figured it was something like a fuel pump shutting off or something

I received the same noise in my car earlier today. I took the car for 5 mile drive. came back and when the engine was off for 15 min. came to car to do something and i hear the same noise. then i drove for another 15 min. and then it was gone. Next time i get it I plan to take a video of it to figure it out.

Jpizzo,
What state you live in?
Which dealer you have taken the car to?

Hi Cornbeef and [email protected],
We're sorry to hear that you both are experiencing this. Please feel free to send us a private message if you decide to have your dealer look into this as we would be happy to assist you during that process.
Lydia
Alfa Romeo Social Care Specialist

 

[[email protected]]

Never heard this in my car..but I gotta admit to not really paying attention now like I was. After 10k with no problems I kinda figure things are fine unless it drives different...


I'll start listening for noises after shut off..... The noise in that video really did sound like a problem however if it doesn't happen all the time or even regularly...it could be it is just a fluke, or it could be a problem that is really hard to diagnose until it gets bad enough to be consistent. Either way only thing to do is to pay attention to how the car behaves under acceleration and deceleration in particular, but chances are if it doesn't make the noise all the time it isn't a big deal. My assumption when someone say's their car is making a noise is that it makes that noise regularly...all cars make weird noises every so often...so do most people....as long as it only happens every-once-and-a-while it isn't an issue normally.

@[email protected]'s comment about it happening after a short drive is interesting...does that sound normally happen after short drives, but not long ones? Could be as simple as something shutting off before getting fully lubricated, in which case the sound is normal in that circumstance...if the problem persists you should keep a notebook and make notes on what happened, how you were driving, the times you heard the noise to see if you can find a sequence of events that the dealer can replicate to try and diagnose the noise when they have it.

Thanks @ALFAOFFROAD,
I only have the car for 3 weeks now and only noticed this once. But There has been only 2 times after some driving i have been hanging around the car for some time and out of that i noticed once. I will try to keep the log going if i hear that once again.