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Car guys... I am befuddled (1 Viewer)

Evilgrin 72

Evilgrin 72

Distributor of Pain
First off, I know **** about cars/engines so maybe I'm just a putz here. Took my car in for a routine oil change today. 2 1/2 hours later (yep) they give me my car back. Driving back to work, I'm suddenly noticing that the engine is much louder than usual when I accelerate. Almost sounds like one of those dopey "tuners" from inside the car. I call the shop and they tell me to bring it back in. I do, and they realize they put conventional oil in it instead of synthetic. So, I wait another hour for them to drain and refill with synthetic. They apologize profusely and send me on my way. As soon as I get on the highway, I realize that the sound is still there. Now, it only seems to happen when I accelerate semi-aggressively and only when the car is in drive. In park, I can floor it and it sounds like it always did. In drive, if I accelerate slowly there's no change, but as soon as I punch it, it sounds like a muscle car (it's a 2012 Focus)

WTF did these idiots do? Possible that they jarred something like the air filter or something like that? Damaged the exhaust somehow when they lifted it? As I said, I am positively clueless when it comes to autos, so I really don't know. Just hoping to avoid having to take it to another shop to fix as I am going on a cruise Saturday AM and can't spend a work day at the mechanic tomorrow after spending 4 hours at Pep Boys today. Maybe my mistake was taking the car to Pep Boys in the first place but I figured they could handle a frigging oil change and tire rotation for Christ's sake.

Any ideas are welcome. And yes, I have considered ball cancer and ruled that out already. TIA

 
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brohan what i know is that it should not be a big deal even though there is a lot of old wifes tales about it and they caught it pretty quick it sounds like something else is wrong when you start the car is it blowing white smoke

 
try taping a rotato to the tail pipe and let me know what happens take that to the bank brohan

 
Whether they used conventional or synthetic wouldn't make a difference as far as some weird noise. They just used that to get you back in. They knocked something loose is my guess. I'd go back and tell them the noise is still there and if they don't fix it you'll find someone who will and send them the bill.

 
belljr said:
Is it a knock?
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No, just a throaty exhaust note. I figured those mooks either didn't put the cap back on or maybe checked the air filter and didn't secure the cover well, but those both seem fine. Anything more complicated than that is beyond my ken.

 
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3C said:
Whether they used conventional or synthetic wouldn't make a difference as far as some weird noise. They just used that to get you back in. They knocked something loose is my guess. I'd go back and tell them the noise is still there and if they don't fix it you'll find someone who will and send them the bill.
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If I have to go back there, I might kill somebody.

 
Okay for what it is worth. Yes, I drive a 2009 Mitsu Lancer GTS with the big wing on the back--don't ask me why I bought this a few years ago as a 45 year old professional type father of two, but it is a lot of fun to drive and kicks butt on snow.

When I get oil changes--it does the exact same thing. The last time I was wondering if they forgot to put the air cleaner back in.

What I am guessing is the mechanics are trying to make a buck off selling you a cabin filter or air cleaner or other type filter, they pull them out to examine them and it knocks the dust off them, so the car runs cleaner for a bit. Just my .02 but I have had this happen twice with this car.

 
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Courtjester said:
Okay for what it is worth. Yes, I drive a 2009 Mitsu Lancer GTS with the big wing on the back--don't ask me why I bought this a few years ago as a 45 year old professional type father of two, but it is a lot of fun to drive and kicks butt on snow.

When I get oil changes--it does the exact same thing. The last time I was wondering if they forgot to put the air cleaner back in.

What I am guessing is the mechanics are trying to make a buck off selling you a cabin filter or air cleaner or other type filter, they pull them out to examine them and it knocks the dust off them, so the car runs cleaner for a but. Just my .02 but I have had this happen twice with this car.
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So it eventually just stopped? Was it the same scenario where it remained quiet even when revving it in park but "growled" when you punched it in drive?

 
Courtjester said:
Okay for what it is worth. Yes, I drive a 2009 Mitsu Lancer GTS with the big wing on the back--don't ask me why I bought this a few years ago as a 45 year old professional type father of two, but it is a lot of fun to drive and kicks butt on snow.

When I get oil changes--it does the exact same thing. The last time I was wondering if they forgot to put the air cleaner back in.

What I am guessing is the mechanics are trying to make a buck off selling you a cabin filter or air cleaner or other type filter, they pull them out to examine them and it knocks the dust off them, so the car runs cleaner for a bit. Just my .02 but I have had this happen twice with this car.
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Also, I know they checked the air filter because they said I needed a new one and asked me if I wanted them to replace it and I told them not to. THAT, I actually can do myself.

 
Evilgrin 72 said:
Courtjester said:
Okay for what it is worth. Yes, I drive a 2009 Mitsu Lancer GTS with the big wing on the back--don't ask me why I bought this a few years ago as a 45 year old professional type father of two, but it is a lot of fun to drive and kicks butt on snow.

When I get oil changes--it does the exact same thing. The last time I was wondering if they forgot to put the air cleaner back in.

What I am guessing is the mechanics are trying to make a buck off selling you a cabin filter or air cleaner or other type filter, they pull them out to examine them and it knocks the dust off them, so the car runs cleaner for a but. Just my .02 but I have had this happen twice with this car.
Click to expand...
So it eventually just stopped? Was it the same scenario where it remained quiet even when revving it in park but "growled" when you punched it in drive?
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It was the same for me. It stops. Of course with my car, I was really happy for the "performance sound" because I am not going to put one of the obnoxious mufflers on it, but it went away fairly soon on.

 
Evilgrin 72 said:
3C said:
Whether they used conventional or synthetic wouldn't make a difference as far as some weird noise. They just used that to get you back in. They knocked something loose is my guess. I'd go back and tell them the noise is still there and if they don't fix it you'll find someone who will and send them the bill.
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If I have to go back there, I might kill somebody.
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Without reading more from this post my response is you should definitely go back to Manny Moe and Jack.

Tomorrow is Friday after all.

 
in all serious is it a bad sound or does it just sound like your car suddenly kicks butt and could take a 75 charger because this is a wierd one nothing they do with an oil change should really get to the symptom you are talking about messing with the air filter might make it sound a bit different though so maybe that is it try reseating that baby like you said nad see where it leads best of luck and have a good cruise brohan and also sorry the rotato did not help take that to the bank bromigo

 
Down in the oil changing pit the kid Clyde and you fired is having himself a good laugh. He is commando right now, his underwear now residing someplace in your ventilation system.

 
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If it only happens in drive and not when the car is parked, it's transmission, hub bearing, wheel related...

If it were in the engine, it would do it in park, reverse, neutral etc.. If the noise is speed related, it's probably a bad wheel bearing and just a coincidence on the oil change.

 
That's what your engine is supposed to sound like. It's telling you to not to wait 40,000 miles to change your oil.

 
Blinker fluid is low & probably need a little fellsner grease around the horsepower vent.

 
playin4beer said:
If it only happens in drive and not when the car is parked, it's transmission, hub bearing, wheel related...

If it were in the engine, it would do it in park, reverse, neutral etc.. If the noise is speed related, it's probably a bad wheel bearing and just a coincidence on the oil change.
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This is good advice. If it's making that noise even at idle, and it's throttle dependant, it's likely your air filter. People are often surprised by the difference in sound a cleaner air filter can make. Either a) they knocked off a lot of summer bugs and dust and freed things up some, or b) they didn't seat it correctly and unfiltered air is getting in. Either one could make it sound a lot more aggressive.

If it's speed dependant, it's something else.

 
I would check the air filter first. Also, check to make sure they didn't under fill or over fill your oil.

Eta: Banana in the tail-pipe.

 
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Did they flip the car over to work on it? I did this with my mower and had a world of problems with the oil.

 
Fat Nick said:
playin4beer said:
If it only happens in drive and not when the car is parked, it's transmission, hub bearing, wheel related...

If it were in the engine, it would do it in park, reverse, neutral etc.. If the noise is speed related, it's probably a bad wheel bearing and just a coincidence on the oil change.
Click to expand...
This is good advice. If it's making that noise even at idle, and it's throttle dependant, it's likely your air filter. People are often surprised by the difference in sound a cleaner air filter can make. Either a) they knocked off a lot of summer bugs and dust and freed things up some, or b) they didn't seat it correctly and unfiltered air is getting in. Either one could make it sound a lot more aggressive.

If it's speed dependant, it's something else.
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It's not speed dependent at all, it's quiet as a mouse at 80 MPH. It's only upon acceleration, and only heavy acceleration at that. If I gently bring it up to speed, it's quiet, I only hear it when I give it a decent amount of gas. I suspect the air filter. Either that or it's like Courtjester said and it will eventually just go away. It did seem somewhat quieter this morning than it did yesterday.

 
TheIronSheik said:
Did they flip the car over to work on it? I did this with my mower and had a world of problems with the oil.
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No, but I did do some stunt driving the other day, part of which included doing two complete vertical revolutions in the air before landing.

 
If it doesn't do it in park, under heavy throttle and only going down the road, it has to be something driveline related, not engine.

The only other thing I can think of is that the oil change jockeys pushed in a heat shield on the exhaust somewhere and you hear that "rattling" when you accelerate hard..

 
playin4beer said:
If it doesn't do it in park, under heavy throttle and only going down the road, it has to be something driveline related, not engine.

The only other thing I can think of is that the oil change jockeys pushed in a heat shield on the exhaust somewhere and you hear that "rattling" when you accelerate hard..
Click to expand...
I considered this as well. No way to know except to bring it to a reputable mechanic and have him look at it, but regrettably, that probably won't be able to be done until around Nov. 1st.

 
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