Terrible noise
Discussion
Hi all
I drove to France yesterday and all was going well until all of a sudden we heard a terrible noise that sounded like something metal had fallen off the car and we were dragging it along. At first I assumed the noise was coming from a tractor we were following as there was no obvious change to driving the car, but soon realised it was my car (2008 Aston V8 Vantage N400 Coupe) so pulled over after about 50 yards. I honestly thought from the noise that my suspension had collapsed!
I had a look around the car to see if anything was hanging off but couldn’t see anything obvious, and frankly you could write what I know about the mechanics of a car on the back of a postage stamp.
I got back in the car and tried moving forwards but the noise was still there, so put it in reverse and swung it into someone’s drive (to get off the single track lane we were stuck on). At this point the noise stopped, so I tried going forwards again and the noise was gone. I set off gingerly and all was fine for the last five miles of our journey.
We are here for a couple of days and will then be driving back to the UK and I’m nervous that something sinister is wrong and that our journey home could be troublesome, whilst at the same time it doesn’t make sense to me that such a horrendous noise could suddenly stop if it is something sinister.
The car was only serviced a couple of thousand miles ago by BR and although some on here have had a negative experience with BR I’ve always found them superb and I know they do a comprehensive inspection of the car when in for a service, so if anything was close to failure I would think they would have noticed.
Any ideas?
I drove to France yesterday and all was going well until all of a sudden we heard a terrible noise that sounded like something metal had fallen off the car and we were dragging it along. At first I assumed the noise was coming from a tractor we were following as there was no obvious change to driving the car, but soon realised it was my car (2008 Aston V8 Vantage N400 Coupe) so pulled over after about 50 yards. I honestly thought from the noise that my suspension had collapsed!
I had a look around the car to see if anything was hanging off but couldn’t see anything obvious, and frankly you could write what I know about the mechanics of a car on the back of a postage stamp.
I got back in the car and tried moving forwards but the noise was still there, so put it in reverse and swung it into someone’s drive (to get off the single track lane we were stuck on). At this point the noise stopped, so I tried going forwards again and the noise was gone. I set off gingerly and all was fine for the last five miles of our journey.
We are here for a couple of days and will then be driving back to the UK and I’m nervous that something sinister is wrong and that our journey home could be troublesome, whilst at the same time it doesn’t make sense to me that such a horrendous noise could suddenly stop if it is something sinister.
The car was only serviced a couple of thousand miles ago by BR and although some on here have had a negative experience with BR I’ve always found them superb and I know they do a comprehensive inspection of the car when in for a service, so if anything was close to failure I would think they would have noticed.
Any ideas?
I had a similar experience just recently in my DB11. Same noise as you describe, accompanied by engine warning light and loss of power.
Frantic looking all around the car and under the bonnet yielded nothing. Car then started normally and I gingerly drove a few miles home.
On inspecting the rear of the radiator I noticed a mark as if something had been dragged over it by the fan blade. Possibly a bit of road debris thrown up from underneath, but my money is on a mouse ! I have had a few problems of late with them trying to nest in the engine bay sound insulation.
Failing that, perhaps stone chips collecting in your engine bay undertray ?
Frantic looking all around the car and under the bonnet yielded nothing. Car then started normally and I gingerly drove a few miles home.
On inspecting the rear of the radiator I noticed a mark as if something had been dragged over it by the fan blade. Possibly a bit of road debris thrown up from underneath, but my money is on a mouse ! I have had a few problems of late with them trying to nest in the engine bay sound insulation.
Failing that, perhaps stone chips collecting in your engine bay undertray ?
I’ve had something very similar to what you describe (2007 V8v). It was a stone lodged in the brake disc guard which fell out after a couple of hundred metres of driving. Awful noise (sounded like something had dropped off the car and was dragging along!) but didn’t cause any damage and was fine after the stone fell out.
Edited by NickXX on Thursday 19th October 07:22
NickXX said:
I’ve had something very similar to what you describe (2007 V8v). It was a stone lodged in the brake disc guard which fell out after a couple of hundred metres of driving. Awful noise (sounded like something had dropped off the car and was dragging along!) but didn’t cause any damage and was fine after the stone fell out.
Had something very similar with my old BMW. In my case a stone must have impacted the brake disk guard and bent it so it was fouling the disk. The noise was dreadful and I had no idea what it was. Fortunately I was close to home so I gingerly drove home and jacked each corner up and spun each wheel until I discovered which one it was. Then sent a video to someone I know who knows far more about cars than I do and he said, stone trapped between the disk and the guard (give the guard a wiggle and it should fall out) or guard bent and fouling the disk (|bend the guard away from the disk). No stone fell out so it must just have been the guard fouling the disk. Once I'd bent it away from the disk a little the noise was gone and it's never came back.Edited by NickXX on Thursday 19th October 07:22
Thanks all, really appreciate the responses. Seems fairly certain it was a stone and nobody has suggested anything else as a possibility, so that largely puts my mind at rest. With the knowledge and experience of those on this forum, I’m pretty sure alternative causes would have been mentioned if they were likely.
After the aircon failed driving through Spain and France last year, the car can’t afford another wobble as my wife is less than impressed!
Thanks again.
After the aircon failed driving through Spain and France last year, the car can’t afford another wobble as my wife is less than impressed!
Thanks again.
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