Metallic buzzing noise

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texasfan88

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I’ve been having this noise with my truck for a few months now and the best way to describe it is a metallic buzzing sound. The noise only seems to occur while the truck is accelerating. I hear the noise primarily in the front on the driver’s side however I have looked underneath my truck in that area several times and haven’t been able to find anything out of the ordinary. I did, however, notice that the heat shield towards the back of the truck, above the muffler, seems to be loose. Is it possible that by accelerating, it causes that heat shield to vibrate and for the sound to travel to the front, causing that noise?
 
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texasfan88

texasfan88

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Absolutely, was going to be my 1st suggestion

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Alright I went ahead and made sure the bolts holding it on were tightened down but it does still flex a lot, mainly because of its design. We’ll see how it goes.
 

VelocityC6Z

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Oh these are the worst issues you can have... An older truck I had it took me almost two months to find out where a noise was coming from, it turned out to be a crossmember that had a bad bushing in it.

Best of luck to you! But definitely check all the heat shields, even around the headers, and look for any cabling, hoses, etc,. that are close to something else.
 

RGAS

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I’ve been having this noise with my truck for a few months now and the best way to describe it is a metallic buzzing sound. The noise only seems to occur while the truck is accelerating. I hear the noise primarily in the front on the driver’s side however I have looked underneath my truck in that area several times and haven’t been able to find anything out of the ordinary. I did, however, notice that the heat shield towards the back of the truck, above the muffler, seems to be loose. Is it possible that by accelerating, it causes that heat shield to vibrate and for the sound to travel to the front, causing that noise?
Mine does the same thing. At exactly 1500 rpm as you slowly accelerate you get the vibration. I'm almost positive it's when the exhaust hits a certain frequency it causes something to vibrate. I just have to figure out what's loose. I figure it's either a heat shield or something internal in the muffler.
 
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texasfan88

texasfan88

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Mine does the same thing. At exactly 1500 rpm as you slowly accelerate you get the vibration. I'm almost positive it's when the exhaust hits a certain frequency it causes something to vibrate. I just have to figure out what's loose. I figure it's either a heat shield or something internal in the muffler.
The real issue, at least with me, is that the noise doesn't happen all the time. Sometimes it's either a certain time of day that it happens or sometimes a full day or two will go by where I won't hear it.
 

RGAS

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The real issue, at least with me, is that the noise doesn't happen all the time. Sometimes it's either a certain time of day that it happens or sometimes a full day or two will go by where I won't hear it.[/QUOTE. Same thing with me if I get on it it seems to go right past the vibration. But if I kind of ease with the accelerator and watch when I get to that certain RPM I can get it to do it almost every time.
 

RGAS

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Sorry about that I somehow screwed that up and it added my response to your post but like I said mine doesn't do it all the time either but I can make it do it.
 
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texasfan88

texasfan88

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Sorry about that I somehow screwed that up and it added my response to your post but like I said mine doesn't do it all the time either but I can make it do it.
What do you to recreate the sound? Would you simply just jack the front end up and then hit the tires to see if anything rattles?
 

RGAS

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What do you to recreate the sound? Would you simply just jack the front end up and then hit the tires to see if anything rattles?
What I do is I just slowly accelerate and watch my RPMs. As soon as I hit 1500 I can usually get it to vibrate. Sometimes it's loud and sometimes it's barely noticeable and from inside the truck I can't tell exactly where it's coming from. What I've noticed is I can't get it to do it in neutral or in park the truck has to be under a load that's what makes me think it's exhaust related.
 
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texasfan88

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What I do is I just slowly accelerate and watch my RPMs. As soon as I hit 1500 I can usually get it to vibrate. Sometimes it's loud and sometimes it's barely noticeable and from inside the truck I can't tell exactly where it's coming from. What I've noticed is I can't get it to do it in neutral or in park the truck has to be under a load that's what makes me think it's exhaust related.
Oh okay. Unfortunately, that method won't work for me because the noise just comes up randomly whenever the hell it wants to. I can set the cruise at 75 mph and not hear it for miles and then suddenly it comes on and lasts for maybe a few seconds and then goes away. I could even drive on a particular road one day, going a certain speed and hear it clear as day and then later on, drive that exact same road, going the exact same speed and not hear it at all. At low speeds, it sounds like a rattling sound and then at highway speeds it's that buzzing noise. It's almost as if a piece of metal somewhere that I can't seem to locate has broken loose and every now and then, gets caught in between something and causes the noise. Anyway, I'm taking it into a shop on Monday so they can check to see if anything might be worn or loose that I'm not seeing.
 

RGAS

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Oh okay. Unfortunately, that method won't work for me because the noise just comes up randomly whenever the hell it wants to. I can set the cruise at 75 mph and not hear it for miles and then suddenly it comes on and lasts for maybe a few seconds and then goes away. I could even drive on a particular road one day, going a certain speed and hear it clear as day and then later on, drive that exact same road, going the exact same speed and not hear it at all. At low speeds, it sounds like a rattling sound and then at highway speeds it's that buzzing noise. It's almost as if a piece of metal somewhere that I can't seem to locate has broken loose and every now and then, gets caught in between something and causes the noise. Anyway, I'm taking it into a shop on Monday so they can check to see if anything might be worn or loose that I'm not seeing.
Post if you find problem because it sounds like it still may be similar to my issue. It may be that whatever is loose for you may be same for me but not as loose.
 

VA-RAM

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Oh okay. Unfortunately, that method won't work for me because the noise just comes up randomly whenever the hell it wants to. I can set the cruise at 75 mph and not hear it for miles and then suddenly it comes on and lasts for maybe a few seconds and then goes away. I could even drive on a particular road one day, going a certain speed and hear it clear as day and then later on, drive that exact same road, going the exact same speed and not hear it at all. At low speeds, it sounds like a rattling sound and then at highway speeds it's that buzzing noise. It's almost as if a piece of metal somewhere that I can't seem to locate has broken loose and every now and then, gets caught in between something and causes the noise. Anyway, I'm taking it into a shop on Monday so they can check to see if anything might be worn or loose that I'm not seeing.

Just curious...but I noticed you said you could "set the cruise at 75 mph and not hear it for miles and then suddenly it comes on and lasts for maybe a few seconds and then goes away." and "drive on a particular road one day, going a certain speed and hear it clear as day and then later on, drive that exact same road, going the exact same speed and not hear it at all."
I'm just wondering if you have tried to eliminate the climate control system. Have you noticed if this is happening at some set temp/fan speed on your AC/Heat system and as it is kicking on /off, correlates to the sound your hearing?
Just a shot in dark, but it may be exhaust related as another post suggested, but it might be related to the compressor/heating system kicking on /off.

Let us know if you figure it out!!
 
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texasfan88

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Just curious...but I noticed you said you could "set the cruise at 75 mph and not hear it for miles and then suddenly it comes on and lasts for maybe a few seconds and then goes away." and "drive on a particular road one day, going a certain speed and hear it clear as day and then later on, drive that exact same road, going the exact same speed and not hear it at all."
I'm just wondering if you have tried to eliminate the climate control system. Have you noticed if this is happening at some set temp/fan speed on your AC/Heat system and as it is kicking on /off, correlates to the sound your hearing?
Just a shot in dark, but it may be exhaust related as another post suggested, but it might be related to the compressor/heating system kicking on /off.

Let us know if you figure it out!!
Hmm I hadn't thought about that but that actually could make sense. I understand that a loose or broken heat shield is the most common cause of these types of noises and it very well may be what's causing it but I would think that if that were the case, I would hear it all the time. I'm taking the truck in on Monday to get it looked at so I suppose in the meantime, what I can do is drive for a bit without any of the climate control on and just see if the noise comes on or not. If it doesn't, then that potentially might be the issue. I'll keep you all updated.
 
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texasfan88

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Still trying to determine where the noise is coming from but can anyone tell me what this is for? I don’t want to make any assumptions but I wonder if it’s possible that as the truck is in motion, the vibrations from the engine and the exhaust are causing this plastic covering to move around, causing the intermittent rattling noise at low speeds, which then turns into a buzzing noise at higher speeds. If it’s supposed to be there, I’ll leave it on and use something to reduce the noise (wd40 or whatever) but if doesn’t serve any purpose, I don’t see why I can’t take it off.

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texasfan88

texasfan88

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Ok so a brief update on what's going on. I just got back from the mechanic and, as is usually the case with any type of weird nose, they weren't able to recreate the sound. Even better was that about 15 miles down the road, after I left the shop, the noise came back and now it sounds like it's coming from my door panel, almost as if a piece of metal is loose or some debris fell in between the window and is just in there making noise. I was pressed for time, unfortunately, so I wasn't able to bring it back for them to look at and I'm not sure what good it would've done since the noise seems to occur whenever it chooses to. One of my thoughts was a bad wheel bearing, which wouldn't be surprising considering how terrible the roads are around here but the problem hasn't gotten any worse since I first heard it a few months ago and that's usually not the case with that sort of thing. Someone mentioned climate control and unfortunately, the noise occurs regardless of whether I have climate control on or not. I could never find a loose heat shield or loose exhaust clamp/bracket and neither could the mechanic. So therefore, the only thing I can think of is that the noise is coming from somewhere inside the cab, perhaps even something like a screw in the door panel that's gone bad.
 

Axefall

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Figure this one out yet?
Mine has done it since about 100 miles after I bought it. Never got it addressed but I have had work done on it since then... New Bumper, Rims & Tires, Bed Cover, Fender flares, 8.4 upgrade, Steering wheel controls... I feel if I take it to the dealer now they will tell me to fly a kite as all these could cause the noise but it was present before any upgrades... Truck has 1,300 miles on it haha.
 
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texasfan88

texasfan88

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Figure this one out yet?
Mine has done it since about 100 miles after I bought it. Never got it addressed but I have had work done on it since then... New Bumper, Rims & Tires, Bed Cover, Fender flares, 8.4 upgrade, Steering wheel controls... I feel if I take it to the dealer now they will tell me to fly a kite as all these could cause the noise but it was present before any upgrades... Truck has 1,300 miles on it haha.
Not yet no. Part of me thinks the noise might be coming from the vibration of the bolts from my running boards. However, someone pointed out the air dam so I might look into that. To be honest though, the noise sounds like it’s coming from inside the truck.
 
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