Need help from some of you "car" people

[ManOSafety]

OK, I admit that I know only enough about cars to get me in trouble, so I'm asking for help from you "experts"

My wife says that her car is making a "hissing" sound sometimes when she drives it. The sound only occurs at some times and only when she is depressing the accelerator. If she hits the brakes, it stops. She thinks is happens most often when the car is a little warmed up, not when she first starts it in the morning.

It's a 1994, Honda Accord, 4-cylinder. Any ideas what it could be?

 

[Miss Demeanor]

OK, I admit that I know only enough about cars to get me in trouble, so I'm asking for help from you "experts"

My wife says that her car is making a "hissing" sound sometimes when she drives it.

I also don't know much about cars, but here is my 2 cents I drive a Saturn, and it had also developed a "hissing" sound. As I am a curious person by nature, I lifted the hood. It only took me a minute to find a hose near the back of the engine that had a huge and obvious hole in it. A friend helped me change the hose (we took off the old hose and went to Discount Auto, it cost about a buck 50 for the little piece of hose and a clamp thingie) and *presto*, bye bye hissing sound.

Then again, I would have never messed with it if I hadn't had my friends help.

Hope the problem is super easy to fix!!

 

[Sparky Kronkite]

Could be a bunch of stuff....

"hissing" to one person's ears is/could be something different to another's ears.

Hissing to me is - gas/air/steam - under pressure and probably escaping since it's audible.

In that case - various loose vacuum hoses are the most likely suspect. Cooling hoses would show signs of water/moisture/coolant/oil.

But it hissing were let's say a bit more mechanical in nature - then it could be a lot of stuff.

Under acceleration is the key - I'd drive it - window down and up against a Jersey Barrier so the sound would reflect back toward my ears - make the noise happen. It could be a bearing (usually a fan bearing) going bad. It could be that the air filter is askew and your hearing the carb suck air - if it's not fuel injected. It could be a tattered/frayed belt that under acceleration whips against something and makes a sort of a hissing sound. It could be a gasket on the intake manifold that is only heard when under acceleration. Lot's of stuff.

Too bad I/we can't hear it.

 

[ManOSafety]

Thanks for the feedback Miss D and Sparky...

Guess I should have said that I checked the obvious hoses and for leaks, but did not find any problems there.

The sound to me isn't really a hissing, more of a wind type sound, almost like road noise/window noise, though not as loud. They called from the shop and can't hear it, so maybe I'll get some more ideas and when they call me tomorrow and say it's "[fill in the blank]" I'll at least have heard of it as a possibility and they won't be completely cheating me.

 

[Sparky Kronkite]

How old is the car......

Deep rumbling noises emanating from under the hood - only at certain rpm's - on an older high mileage car - are generally not good.

Internals - bearings? Or tranny problems can happen like that.

 

[Closet Desire]

Honda Accords

I had a 1984 Accord. Broke down once. I used to be handy with cars, but when I popped the bonnet I suddenly realised I had no idea how the damn thing worked. Pure fuckin' magic.

No carb so you're not getting noise from jets or leaks in it. No distributor so no vacumn module. But...a jillion hoses, vacumn valves, manifolds, and sensors. Could be anywhere. My advice if you can't find anything obvious? Find a dealer or shop with a link to the onboard computer because if there is a leak it will show up as a sensor or switch that has gone into default mode on the computer. I was absolutely amazed to see one of these work. You might think the car won't work if there's a leak or bad valve, but the computer will compensate and make up values for bad data in the system. Probably more advance than the space shuttle.

Good luck.

 

[Silverlily]

Hmm, like Sparky said, too bad I can't hear it. Send me a WAV file, ok?

I'll ask hubby when he gets home, neither one of us are very familiar with foreign cars (that's what you get for not buying American ), but he may know something.

 

[Weird Harold]

The sound to me isn't really a hissing, more of a wind type sound, almost like road noise/window noise, though not as loud.

Could it be transmission related? I've heard automatic transmissions that were low on fluid make a sound that could be described as "like wind noise" before they finally shift. That would fit the "only under acceleration description as well.

My first thought was a vacuum or intake manifold leak, but that should be something they'd pick up in the shop.

Whatever it is, It would seem to be related to the load on the engine. It probably isn't apparent when the engine is just revved up.

Some things the service tech needs to know:

Is it related to a certain speed or speed range?

Does it quit when you stop accelerating but don't hit the brakes?

Is it worse going uphill than on the flat or downhill?

Are there any other symptoms like a low speed surge, delayed shifting, a decrease in milage since this started, hesitation when the acclerator is depressed, or anything else about the car that doesn't seem exactly right? --Especially something that started happening about the same time this problem was first noticed.

 

[Ezzy]

One I came across a few years ago...

Does your wife drive with the window open a little, is it just wind noise?




EZ http://cwm.ragesofsanity.com/s/cwm2/sleep.gif

 

[Bushido71XS]

Check the vacuum lines, ManO. That's probably what's wrong, or an exhaust leak, from when the pipes heat up.

 

[ManOSafety]

OK, according to the service guy, the sound may have been caused by worn brake pads, since it was more of a road noise sound than an actual hissing sound. Driving it home from the shop, it didn't occur, but we'll see in the morning if it stays away.

Thanks for all the feedback gang, that's why I love you guys