Weird sound when closing the car

[monkishor]

Hello everyone,

Recently the car hit me with a very bizarre "issue". For the last 3 days the car has started making a very weird sound whenever locking the car.

Ive owned it for more than 18 months and It has never done any sound when locking the doors. (it never had the function to beep when locking the car).

The video does not record the proper sound, probably because of the echo from the garage. The sound is a weird mix between a broken horn and an electric motor which is "buzzing" and struggling to do something…. the sound is coming from somewhere inside the car (i think close to the passenger side).
I shot the video with the top down to make it easier to hear, but it also on when the car is with the top up.

the car locks/unlocks normally.

Anyone has any idea what it could be ?

[roastbeef]

Well that's a new one.

Is it a sound from a speaker or something mechanical?

[monkishor]

Originally Posted by roastbeef

Well that's a new one.

Is it a sound from a speaker or something mechanical?

sounds mechanical to me...
initially I thought that it might be the motor that lifts up the windows when closing the door, as it sounds like a motor which is "pushing beyond its limit", but the sound appears no matter which door is closed...

it does it either if I lock the door just by touching the door handle, or when I use the remote... same thing.

I will try to re-record it somewhere outside, so that it does not get any echo from the garage.

[gfisher99]

Oh wow - that's wild. I had to play it a few times and I was laughing so hard. I know it's not funny, but that is just so bizarre. No idea what could even make that sound in these cars. Hope you get it figured out and I can't wait to see what it ends up being.

[Yeru]

OP, do you suspect it's ambient temperature related; either extreme cold/heat?

[monkishor]

Originally Posted by Yeru

OP, do you suspect it's ambient temperature related; either extreme cold/heat?

no. temperature outside is around 12-15 celsius and the garage is heated…

[roastbeef]

Originally Posted by monkishor

sounds mechanical to me...
initially I thought that it might be the motor that lifts up the windows when closing the door, as it sounds like a motor which is "pushing beyond its limit", but the sound appears no matter which door is closed...

it does it either if I lock the door just by touching the door handle, or when I use the remote... same thing.

I will try to re-record it somewhere outside, so that it does not get any echo from the garage.

it doesn't have the right timing to be the window motors going down. the sound for the lock chirp is under the cowl cover on the passenger side near the firewall. i bet its screwed up somehow and just making a weird screech.
double check your idrive to make sure the locking sound is still "off." if you had your car in for service recently, they may have done an update or something and reset some settings inadvertently causing the car to now make a sound if you had previously set it to be off.

[SilverSlug]

Are you sure your girlfriend isn't standing behind you with an air horn playing a prank?

[SilverSlug]

Does it make the same sound with windows down? Or with the top up? Same loudness?

Can you try to pinpoint which part of the car it's emanating from?

Is it the speaker that otherwise makes the normal locking sound?

[Helmsman]

Not using it myself but there is a small horn/beep as lock signal available isn't it? If so I'd guess it is that beeper that went bad. Change it or code off the feature.

[monkishor]

Originally Posted by SilverSlug

Are you sure your girlfriend isn't standing behind you with an air horn playing a prank?

haha... funny that the first time it happened it was after she was driving it...

the sound comes on every time I lock the car .... top up/down, windows up/down.


it seems like its coming from behind the glovebox, on the passenger side.
@[roastbeef] mentioned the horn for the "lock cirp" is in that area, so my best bet now is that something happened and it got activated somehow... I'll check it later today and I'll come back and let you guys know the outcome. will also try to take the car out and record it again, as the sound is definitely disorted by the garage echo, making it sound like an airhorn

[roastbeef]

I'm 99% sure your lock chirp speaker is jacked up.

[monkishor]

Originally Posted by roastbeef

I'm 99% sure your lock chirp speaker is jacked up.

100% sure something is wrong with the chirp speaker.

when I got home the thing was still making the weird sound.
Went in the settings of the car, but as it is an European model it does not have the option to enable/disable this chirp (i never had it on since I own the car). closest thing to that is the "visual" notification (aka blinks the hazards). so I disabled and enabled that option…

got out of the car, tried locking the car from the key and the sound went away. locked/unlocked the car several times from the key and the sound was gone. the moment I tried to lock it using the "comfort entry / keyless entry), the sound came back when locking the car (both when using the keys and from the door handle to lock the car).

tried this several times and every time when I disable / enable the visual notification, the sound goes away as long as I lock it from the key. (leaving the notification off doesn't change this)

[SilverSlug]

Perhaps there is some type of short in the Comfort Access wiring for the door handle; which now burned out the chirp speaker.

Touch the door handle, is it hotter/warmer than the rest of the car?

[monkishor]

Originally Posted by SilverSlug

Perhaps there is some type of short in the Comfort Access wiring for the door handle; which now burned out the chirp speaker.

Touch the door handle, is it hotter/warmer than the rest of the car?

not really…
is there any way just to disable that speaker physically? (ie. has anyone tried just to cut the wires without getting any errors ?)

[SilverSlug]

You should be able to code out the sound without cutting any wires.

I'm still baffled how the sound is so loud inside the car, while the chirp speaker emanates sound outside of the car.

Can you try to pinpoint exactly where it's coming from? Open the glove box, pinpoint precisely?

[monkishor]

Originally Posted by SilverSlug

You should be able to code out the sound without cutting any wires.

I'm still baffled how the sound is so loud inside the car, while the chirp speaker emanates sound outside of the car.

Can you try to pinpoint exactly where it's coming from? Open the glove box, pinpoint precisely?

I have tried to code it out with carly, but unfortunately it does not have the option.
I'll try to see with one of my friends who has inpa.


the sound is definitely coming from the inside.
if you know for a fact that the chirp speaker should emanate the sound outside the car (which actually makes sense), then its definitely something else.
Ill try to investigate.

[roastbeef]

Originally Posted by monkishor

not really…
is there any way just to disable that speaker physically? (ie. has anyone tried just to cut the wires without getting any errors ?)

You can just unplug it dude.

[SilverSlug]

In my opinion, Carly sux. I use an app called Bimmercode, and connect to the car with an OBD module called OBD MX+

The code you're looking for is:

ACOUSTICAL_LOCK_CONFIRM .... and will be set to: aktiv (if currently activated).

Although like roastbeef mentioned, you can probably just unplug it.

[SilverSlug]

Now I'm really curious where the chirp speaker is located.

[roastbeef]

Originally Posted by SilverSlug

Now I'm really curious where the chirp speaker is located.

It's right here.

[SilverSlug]

Oh my goodness, you have Moton coilovers installed?? How do those ride? EDC still functional?