# Engine noise much louder around 2000 rpm



## spacedout (Dec 7, 2010)

In those RPM ranges I also notice a noise/rumble when you put the engine under load/step on it. Kind of reminds me of a diesel truck sound, I attribute the sound with low end torque. The sound is more of a drone exhaust sound. 

I would say its normal but only way to tell is drive another cruze or have the dealer check things out next time you take it in.


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## zpe (Jan 11, 2013)

spacedout said:


> In those RPM ranges I also notice a noise/rumble when you put the engine under load/step on it. Kind of reminds me of a diesel truck sound, I attribute the sound with low end torque. The sound is more of a drone exhaust sound.
> 
> I would say its normal but only way to tell is drive another cruze or have the dealer check things out next time you take it in.


The noise that you have... are you saying you only get it when you're giving it a lot of gas?

I ask because my noise happens regardless of how aggressively I'm accelerating. I could be flooring it or I could be giving it the bare minimum to get the rpm up. If it's in that 1500-2500 rpm range, it's making the noise. Louder the closer to 2000 it is, but the same every time in every situation.

I do for sure plan on asking my dealer to check it out. Just kinda hoping there's a simple explanation in the mean time.


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## spacedout (Dec 7, 2010)

no, I never really floor the gas. it makes that drone sound with even light acceleration at those RPM ranges mentioned.


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## Bohdan (Apr 28, 2012)

Mine was a little louder when new but now at 4,000 very quite it is.


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## jstoner22 (Aug 21, 2012)

I noticed this between 1800-2000rpm as well when the car was new.
It has dissipated throughout the last few thousand kilometres though.


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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

These are the engine speeds where the Turbo is spooling up. I wonder if you're hearing the turbo spool up.


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## Chevy Customer Care (Oct 29, 2011)

zpe said:


> The noise that you have... are you saying you only get it when you're giving it a lot of gas?
> 
> I ask because my noise happens regardless of how aggressively I'm accelerating. I could be flooring it or I could be giving it the bare minimum to get the rpm up. If it's in that 1500-2500 rpm range, it's making the noise. Louder the closer to 2000 it is, but the same every time in every situation.
> 
> I do for sure plan on asking my dealer to check it out. Just kinda hoping there's a simple explanation in the mean time.



zpe,
I would like you to keep me posted on the progress with your dealer. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me anytime. 
Thank you,
Stacy Chevrolet Customer Service


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## zpe (Jan 11, 2013)

Well I finally got my schedule and my dealer's schedule to align and I just got back from my service appointment.

I had someone take a drive with me and they could tell what I was talking about. Said it was a frequency vibration coming up through the dash at the RPM level I was describing.

They are keeping it to work on because they will probably have a hard time telling what exactly is causing it, since you can't reproduce it without driving the car. I'm driving a rental LS (boo! ) for now.


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## David1 (Sep 16, 2011)

This noise is not normal at all. I just turned in my 11 auto Echo and the motor and exhaust were nice and quiet. I just picked up at 2013 1LT auto yesterday. I test drove a few other 13 cruzes before selecting the one I now have. The noise around 2000 rpm in 6th gear light throttle is so bad that the the dash resonates and the whole interior is resonating. It is not turbo spool. I have a whole 140 miles on the car. Figures the one I didn't test drive has a problem. The others I drove did not have this issue. I describe it as an exhaust leak/resonance right in the under/middle/front of the car. Like how the old flex pipes would leak back in the day when they started to fail. I am taking it in this afternoon and will keep you guys posted.


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## silverram323 (Mar 16, 2012)

I know what you guys are saying as far as noise. I have 2 cruzes, mine is a 2012 wife's is a 2011. I never noticed it till the wife was riding with me and said what did you do to your car? I was like what, nothing, she said it sounds like a rice grinder.
So under light throttle and right at 2000 rpms it has a growl till 2500. I drove hers, and her car don't have that same noise. Weird...


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## DrVette (Dec 6, 2011)

You can file a concern with the NHTSA
http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/owners...M6T2SgpQv0wLK8NwqkyhGhHRkL3W9p2X7n!1013286136

TSB-PI0715, 2012 Cruze, excessive noise, knock broken crankshaft or flywheel bolts.
http://www.ownersite.com/tsb/tsbs.cfm/2012/CHEVROLET/CRUZE/


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## David1 (Sep 16, 2011)

DrVette said:


> You can file a concern with the NHTSA
> http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/owners...M6T2SgpQv0wLK8NwqkyhGhHRkL3W9p2X7n!1013286136
> 
> TSB-PI0715, 2012 Cruze, excessive noise, knock broken crankshaft or flywheel bolts.
> http://www.ownersite.com/tsb/tsbs.cfm/2012/CHEVROLET/CRUZE/


This has nothing to do with what we are descibing.


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## DrVette (Dec 6, 2011)

David1 said:


> This has nothing to do with what we are descibing.




You think bolts getting loose don't cause noose upon first loosening?

Anyway he can file his prob w/ NHTSA


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## The_Madcat (Oct 6, 2012)

DrVette said:


> You think bolts getting loose don't cause noose upon first loosening?
> 
> Anyway he can file his prob w/ NHTSA


I have a 2013 2LT 6M. I have the same noise and I am at 2250 on the Odo. Definitely not loose bolts. This is an exhaust drone. Same rpm range and this was not apparent when I drove the 2012's. I'll be keeping an eye on this for what you guys find out at your dealerships. I'm taking mine in next friday for the first oil change and some minor things. I'll ask them about this too.


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## zpe (Jan 11, 2013)

David1 said:


> This noise is not normal at all. I just turned in my 11 auto Echo and the motor and exhaust were nice and quiet. I just picked up at 2013 1LT auto yesterday. I test drove a few other 13 cruzes before selecting the one I now have. The noise around 2000 rpm in 6th gear light throttle is so bad that the the dash resonates and the whole interior is resonating. It is not turbo spool. I have a whole 140 miles on the car. Figures the one I didn't test drive has a problem. The others I drove did not have this issue. I describe it as an exhaust leak/resonance right in the under/middle/front of the car. Like how the old flex pipes would leak back in the day when they started to fail. I have now gotten rid of one problem car for another. I am taking it in this afternoon and will keep you guys posted.


Yep, this is definitely the same thing as I have.
I drove 3 other 2013s before I bought mine. None of them did this. I'm also coming from a problem car and had hoped for the Cruze to put a stop to the madness... kinda sucks to be back into it already.

I got a call today that they had eliminated about half of the things they think it could be, and they are going to have to continue Monday. So I guess I'm driving the rental all weekend.... will update when I know what they found.


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## David1 (Sep 16, 2011)

Mine is fixed!!!! Easy fix. Took the tech 30 minutes of messing around with it. I found another thread in the engine section on this site with a similar issue where a GM field engineer figured out is was the fuel rail/line support rubbing. I took the info with me to help save them some time, The service adviser and sales manager were very welcoming to the help and actually wanted a copy of the info. Mine was also fuel line related. Under the firewall where the fuel lines run up from the bottom of the car to the fuel rail was the problem. The lines and the bracket that hold all 4 lines were hitting the body. Where these lines run up is on the passenger side of the tunnel and they just clear the swaybar. The tech bent the main line enough to get it away from the body and also moved the whole clamp assembly since part of that was hitting the body also. So when you have the car in gear and have enough load, and motor movement, the natural vibration from this motor travels down the lines and vibrates on the body and then inside the car and makes it sound like the exhaust is vibrating and the sound travels through what seems to be the center front of the dash and then to your ears! Here are some pics while the car was still in the air of the lines after they were moved and where they are. You can see there is not much room there with the sway bar and you can easily tell were the lines can make contact with the body especially the end of the clip that juts out to hit the body. Do any of the assembly people at Lordstown ever think, "hey, maybe this is going to hit something and make noise?" There is a good 10 inches of area for the lines to make contact. The oriantation of the pics may not be perfect but I wanted to get as much visibility of the lines as possible. I hope the pics help others with this issue.


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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

David - thank you for the detailed writeup of the solution.


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## DrVette (Dec 6, 2011)

Thanks, this sound @ some specific rpm can be called a harmonic vibration.

You already knew that


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## zpe (Jan 11, 2013)

Well this is interesting. I got a call from my service dept. and was told that they determined my issue to be the catalytic converter. They're replacing it and I should have the car back tomorrow. Didn't say anything about a fuel line.


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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

zpe said:


> Well this is interesting. I got a call from my service dept. and was told that they determined my issue to be the catalytic converter. They're replacing it and I should have the car back tomorrow. Didn't say anything about a fuel line.


Harmonic resonance can occur in multiple places in the car. Fuel rails, catalytic converter, drive shaft (in a AWD or rear wheel drive vehicle). All can do this.


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## DrVette (Dec 6, 2011)

zpe said:


> Well this is interesting. I got a call from my service dept. and was told that they determined my issue to be the catalytic converter. They're replacing it and I should have the car back tomorrow. Didn't say anything about a fuel line.



Cat. converters heat shields are notorious rattlers as are cat. internals on poorly made units.

Glad it's fixed.


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## David1 (Sep 16, 2011)

I would say the cat is an expensive guess.


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## zpe (Jan 11, 2013)

Got another call today. They replaced the catalytic converter and it still made the noise. Now they think it's a part of the turbocharger and I will have my car "for sure" tomorrow.
I can't say I'm thrilled about how long I have been out of my car for, but at least they know it's a problem and are trying to fix it, which is a step beyond my Ford experience...


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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

Rattles and hums can be really hard to track down. You have a good dealership in that they're still after it.


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## David1 (Sep 16, 2011)

It is the fuel lines hitting the floor or the fuel rail support!


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## Chevy Customer Care (Oct 29, 2011)

@zpe, how are things going with your Cruze and the dealership today?

Michelle, Chevrolet Customer Service assisting Stacy


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## zpe (Jan 11, 2013)

Chevy Customer Service said:


> @zpe, how are things going with your Cruze and the dealership today?
> 
> Michelle, Chevrolet Customer Service assisting Stacy


The dealership was expecting a part today and it arrived late, so I'm told. I'm supposed to get my car back tomorrow, making it a full week in the shop.
Obviously I wish it hadn't come to that, but the service people have been great through all of it, and as someone else pointed out, it's a tricky thing to nail down.


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## jhudson (Jan 3, 2013)

David1 said:


> It is the fuel lines hitting the floor or the fuel rail support!


Thanks David. My 2012 Cruze had this drone so bad I didn't like to drive it. This is my wife car so I was okay with it making this drone. I had it in the dealer just last week and even took a tech out for a drive to confirm the drone. The next day receive a call from dealer that the drone was normal for this car. They drove another Cruze and it made the same drone. Oh well I said too bad for my wife she will have to live with the noise. Well David thank you for your post. You were right! It took me a only 2 minutes to move the fuel lines from hitting the firewall. Guess what. The car is quiet with no drone at all! I am so glad I found this thread and my wife is too. 

Again thanks David. 

Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using AutoGuide.Com Free App


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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

jhudson, I'd definitely go talk to the overall service manager. You shouldn't have had to find the solution on-line. His tech needs some retraining.


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## jhudson (Jan 3, 2013)

I was planning on it. I have a very good relationship with this dealer and do know the service manager well. I have a 2011 Malibu, 2012 3500 Silverado duramax and the last vehicle was the Cruze all bought from this dealer. This was a new tech and service writer and they took the easy way out. I know service manager would want to know about it. 

Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using AutoGuide.Com Free App


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## zpe (Jan 11, 2013)

I got my car back from the shop on Thursday. I was told it was all fixed. Well... it kind of is. The problem is lesser now. More isolated rpm range and the car seems like it has to be under heavier load. But it still happens. I suppose I can look into the fuel line thing. At no point during my service did anyone say anything about fuel lines to me, so it's possible that hasn't been looked at.


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## jhudson (Jan 3, 2013)

I think that most dealerships don't even look at the fuel lines. But once you think about it and look to see if your lines are touching it is so simple. Once there is a load on engine and it torques a bit the fuel lines will vibrate against the body and it sounds like an exhaust or air intake drone. Maybe it is just too simple for most dealers to consider. It took me all of two minutes to correct this. I didn't even get dirty.

My hat is off to David for bringing his fix to this forum. 

Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using AutoGuide.Com Free App


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## David1 (Sep 16, 2011)

To me it looks like the factory has the big clip mounted upside down or it is made the wrong way so it the folding end is oriented the wrong way.


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## The_Madcat (Oct 6, 2012)

zpe said:


> I got my car back from the shop on Thursday. I was told it was all fixed. Well... it kind of is. The problem is lesser now. More isolated rpm range and the car seems like it has to be under heavier load. But it still happens. I suppose I can look into the fuel line thing. At no point during my service did anyone say anything about fuel lines to me, so it's possible that hasn't been looked at.



Took mine in for the oil change and mentioned the drone. They found the AC lines were touching. After they moved it I had the same experience. The drone has lessened but still there under load. I'll take it back when we get done with our trip and get the oil changed again since it is a 4500 mile trip.


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## silverram323 (Mar 16, 2012)

David1 said:


> Mine is fixed!!!! Easy fix. Took the tech 30 minutes of messing around with it. I found another thread in the engine section on this site with a similar issue where a GM field engineer figured out is was the fuel rail/line support rubbing. I took the info with me to help save them some time, The service adviser and sales manager were very welcoming to the help and actually wanted a copy of the info. Mine was also fuel line related. Under the firewall where the fuel lines run up from the bottom of the car to the fuel rail was the problem. The lines and the bracket that hold all 4 lines were hitting the body. Where these lines run up is on the passenger side of the tunnel and they just clear the swaybar. The tech bent the main line enough to get it away from the body and also moved the whole clamp assembly since part of that was hitting the body also. So when you have the car in gear and have enough load, and motor movement, the natural vibration from this motor travels down the lines and vibrates on the body and then inside the car and makes it sound like the exhaust is vibrating and the sound travels through what seems to be the center front of the dash and then to your ears! Here are some pics while the car was still in the air of the lines after they were moved and where they are. You can see there is not much room there with the sway bar and you can easily tell were the lines can make contact with the body especially the end of the clip that juts out to hit the body. Do any of the assembly people at Lordstown ever think, "hey, maybe this is going to hit something and make noise?" There is a good 10 inches of area for the lines to make contact. The oriantation of the pics may not be perfect but I wanted to get as much visibility of the lines as possible. I hope the pics help others with this issue.


David, THANK YOU so much for this post, I had this dreaded noise and it was the fuel rubbing. Noise is gone.


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## David1 (Sep 16, 2011)

If the service advisors and the techs would listen to the customer, this is an issue that takes all of 10 min to address!


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## The_Madcat (Oct 6, 2012)

Back from our trip, 4000 miles worth  Noise is much more pronounced now and on cold starts. Sounds terrible in the first startup of the day and now it is droning through all gears, not just the lower ones. I'll be taking it back again.


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## zpe (Jan 11, 2013)

I got my car back from the shop again. This time they noticed an issue with the engine mount and corrected it - that was it, the noise is gone.


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## David1 (Sep 16, 2011)

The folks at Lordstown need a good talking to. How hard can it be to put this car together.


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## Chevy Customer Care (Oct 29, 2011)

zpe said:


> I got my car back from the shop again. This time they noticed an issue with the engine mount and corrected it - that was it, the noise is gone.




zpe,
Thank you for the update on this. I am happy to hear that your dealer has been able to get your concerns taken care of for you. If you have any other questions, comments or concerns please feel free to contact me anytime. 
Thank you,
Stacy Chevrolet Customer Service


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## The_Madcat (Oct 6, 2012)

Older thread but I have an update for those still having this issue. I took mine (reluctantly) to a different dealer and explained the issue in detail. I have done my own little experiments trying to isolate this drone, since the previous 2 trips to the dealer produced no results. I found the lines running up the passenger foot well were causing the vibrations and drone. I did this by using electrical tape and trial and error. I would put tape around the components that I thought could cause this and as soon as I put them on those lines, the sound changed. So I took it in, explained the lines and the culprit - the bracket that holds them is vibrating against the foot well. The dealership had the car for about an hour and a half. When I came to pick it up, they said that there are no TSB's on the issue but there is a preliminary write up from GM that explains what to do to fix it. My drone/vibration is 100% gone now. So this pre-TSB documentation is out there and they state what to do to fix it. The dealer stated they moved the fuel/brake line brackets and added, umm, tape to two areas and voila, no more drone. Hopefully, this is helpful to you guys still having this issue.


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## Beaker (Mar 21, 2012)

Depending on the gear you're in, you should not just floor it at 1500 rpm. You are lugging the engine and taller gears won't let it rev as fast as you are trying to get it to.


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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

MadCat - did you get the PI number?


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## The_Madcat (Oct 6, 2012)

Beaker said:


> Depending on the gear you're in, you should not just floor it at 1500 rpm. You are lugging the engine and taller gears won't let it rev as fast as you are trying to get it to.


I have put several hundred thousand miles on manual trans cars, this was NOT caused by lugging the engine. The bracket that holds the brake and fuel lines was the culprit. This drone happened at any engine speed, more pronounced when the turbo would spool up. It is completely, 100% gone, no change in driving from me to make that happen.

I did not get the PI number, I'll look on my invoice and see if it was documented. Otherwise, I'll take a pic of the invoice and post it.


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## TMcDermid (Mar 30, 2013)

The last two days I noticed a huge vibration during acceleration on the passenger side. I figured it was from the intake bypass but this thread states otherwise. I am a complete newbie on this one even with the thread. Am I to put tape around the 4 fuel lines? How do I stop it from vibrating against the body. If you guys can get back to me with details and/or pictures that would be great.


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## The_Madcat (Oct 6, 2012)

Hopefully that is legible.


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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

PI 5853. Thanks.


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## The_Madcat (Oct 6, 2012)

TMcDermid said:


> The last two days I noticed a huge vibration during acceleration on the passenger side. I figured it was from the intake bypass but this thread states otherwise. I am a complete newbie on this one even with the thread. Am I to put tape around the 4 fuel lines? How do I stop it from vibrating against the body. If you guys can get back to me with details and/or pictures that would be great.


If I can get some time this weekend, I'll ramp it up and take some "after" pics. Wife has the weekend off though, so not sure I'll get "car" time.


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## TMcDermid (Mar 30, 2013)

The_Madcat said:


> If I can get some time this weekend, I'll ramp it up and take some "after" pics. Wife has the weekend off though, so not sure I'll get "car" time.


That would be awesome - thanks.


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## Rochas (May 27, 2013)

I suspect I have the same issue but the bracket in my car appears fixed to the body of the car... or is there another bracket further under the car that I can't see from under the bonnet? When I moved the bracket I can see a little it did seem to change the noise slightly.


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## Rochas (May 27, 2013)

Waiting at dealer now as they try to diagnose the issue. At least they heard the noise which is always a good start!


UPDATE: Not happy at all. They checked the fuel/brake lines and didn't see any issues. They drove another new car and said it was actually more noisy than mine! So all they will do is raise it with Holden and if enough people complain we might get a fix. I won't hold my breathe.


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## The_Madcat (Oct 6, 2012)

Weather and busy schedule have kept me from taking the pics of the actual work. The bracket being where it is, is part of the issue. The lines end up vibrating enough that the bracket vibrates on the passenger floorboards. When I can, I'll get the pics. The PI I listed in my previous post should be visible to any dealer I would think. The steps to fix it were there for my dealer. I had to take mine to a second dealer to actually get it done. The original dealer I am done with. They had 2-3 shots at it before I took it elsewhere.


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## Rochas (May 27, 2013)

I'm in Australia. The clip appears to be mounted on the car body just before the sway bar... Or is there another clip you can't see from the engine bay?

They've raised an issue with the manufacturer (Holden) so hopefully that will come to something.


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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

Rochas - did you give your dealer the US/Canada PI for them to pass along to Holden? It might help Holden resolve the problem.


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## Rochas (May 27, 2013)

No, but I'll mention it the next time Holden rings me. Now that I've raised an issue with Holden directly they are chasing up the dealer and engineers and keeping me informed of the progress. They even said I should try different dealers if I wasn't happy but for now I'll wait until the engineer's response. I did mention that I suspected the issue was to do with the fuel lines but the dealer checked it and didn't see an issue. They also tried another new vehicle which made the noise worse than my car. The clip people seem to be talking about is fixed to the car body on my Cruze so can't be adjusted (unless there is another clip further down that you can't see from the engine bay?).


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## ashh (Sep 13, 2013)

I have just bought a 2013 Cruze SRiV and have noticed the same whirring noice specifically at 2250-2500rpm in all gear ranges; from this thread, I will be contacting the Service Manager at the Dealer and noting the fuel rail / line support rubbing, initial reaction was possibly turbo spooling, but passengers in the vehicle agree that the noise is no 'natural' for a new car.


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## Chevy Customer Care (Oct 29, 2011)

Hi ashh

Please let me know by private message if you need my assistance or if you would like for me to document this issue.

Jackie
Chevrolet Customer Care


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## Jamey (Sep 24, 2014)

Ive got a 12 cruze and its had a moaning/vibrating noise under acceleration since i got it few weeks ago.after searching on here for some clues, ive found that mine was caused by the high side ac line hitting the firewall, all i did was put couple pieces of rubber behind it.Hope this helps anybody.


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## edlloyd (Nov 25, 2014)

I know this is an old post, but did this issue ever get resolved? I am taking mine in tomorrow for the same identical issue.


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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

edlloyd said:


> I know this is an old post, but did this issue ever get resolved? I am taking mine in tomorrow for the same identical issue.


There are a few known reasons for this. All are related to a tube or pipe of some sort rattling against another piece. Very difficult to find but once found it will be obvious.


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## SkylineTj (Aug 24, 2015)

Bumping this again, since after reading quite a bit on this forum, it seems like it's a fairly common issue.

Bought mine 2 weeks ago and it had a low drone in the low RPM range and I just figured it was normal.
After reading on here, I looked at my fuel lines near the firewall, and they're actually attached to the firewall with a clip, so I looked at the A/C line.
It was actually touching and had an imprint on the material that was on the firewall.
Pulled it away with a little force so that it wouldn't touch anymore and it fixed my issue.


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## jandree22 (Sep 19, 2011)

Only took a preliminary look without getting it up on ramps, but I found something interesting. No obvious lines hitting but the drivers side most line has some sort of plastic/rubber padding. Looks like it's intended to mitigate this problem. Wonder if earlier model year Cruzes have it. Anyway, I have this flutter rattle at low rpm and I'm actually suspecting this additional piece, as it has some loose play to it. Once I can get under the car to tape things up, we'll see.


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## Dnewcom59 (Jan 30, 2016)

I have a 2015 LTZ and found my car makes the noise at about 1800 rpm and does exactly like it's been described here. My friend has one that doesn't do it. Good to know about the fuel line deal from David1, I hope that fixes mine.


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## jayno20 (Feb 16, 2016)

Dnewcom59 said:


> I have a 2015 LTZ and found my car makes the noise at about 1800 rpm and does exactly like it's been described here. My friend has one that doesn't do it. Good to know about the fuel line deal from David1, I hope that fixes mine.



I have a 2015 LTZ making a similar sound too. Did this fix yours?


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