[saddleboat]

We have a premium with almost 900 miles on it. love it. but yesterday, while going downhill, around 25mph, i heard a loud rumble/rattle, rrrrrumm vvvrrrrumlmrlrlrrrr. it stopped for a few seconds then it kept happening every minute or so when going 25mph or under, on rough patches in the road, seemed mostly when going downhill (i was on a windy road).

same sound happened a few times today, going in city driving for 15 miles or so, on and off. very on and off. I can try to replicate it, go around 18mph on rough patch and no sound. then a few minutes later, going 18mph on same kind of rough patch (most every road here is rough though, not dirt rough, city rough), and the rattle/rumble will be extended. The sound is mostly from the front passenger side, right in front of the passenger, but a few times came distinctly from the driver side. The sweet spot for speed is 15-18 mph to make the sound occur.

never ever makes the noise when accelerating. just a nice engine humming. never makes the noise above 30 or so mph. does not make the noise when braking.

so it does not seem to be engine or brake related.

one curious note. the sound started yesterday after i turned the AVH on for the first time ever. I drove most of yesterday with it on and worked great. The AVH was turned off today when the sound continued.

but i turned on the AVH today, used it a few times, then turned it off and the sound stopped occurring for the rest of the few miles home. (only one little rumble).

i was wondering if it is just the AVH breaking in. Maybe something in the AVH got stuck or something and had to turn it on and off today to get it right.

Also, it is not tire road or usual rattling of a car. It is a noise that would worry anyone driving any car. Like I have driven other cars plus 100,000 miles, over all sorts of surfaces, and not heard a "troubling" rumble like this one.

we called subaru service and will have it looked out tomorrow but wondering before we go if anyone else had this sound/problem.

 

[traildogck]

That "rumble" is just the un-fined nature of the boxter motor.

I'm kidding, I have nothing to offer other than sarcasm.

 

[traildogck]

Maybe it was the "flappy thing" buffering. You know, the under-hood-TMIC-duct. Maybe the combination of rough road and the wind caused it to buffer/flutter. I could easy see this resonance transferring as a noise/vibe you describe.

 

[Orestes85]

Check all the liners in your wheel wells and under the engine, make sure clips haven't popped out and the liner is rubbing somewhere or dragging on the ground. It could be that at speed it's happening too quickly to hear combined with wind/road noise or wind is pushing it into a position where it doesn't make noise. My 93 honda beater has flappy fender liners that you can't hear unless i'm going < 20ish mph.

If they're loose, easy fix. If not...no idea.

 

[Robert.Mauro]

If nothing else turns up, have them check the three bolts that mount your turbo. It's possible one's loose. There were a few cars with missing or mis-torqued bolts there. Easy fix, no damage, but you'll lose power if it loosens all the way.

May be something else entirely though.

 

[saddleboat]

thanks for the suggestions. i will ask about these possibilities.

since i wrote this post, i have take two separate trips, around the city driving, about two hours total with zero noise even though i have been trying to recreate it.

i did look under the car and noticed the flappy things, but the sound seems more metal.

it does sound like a bolt could be loose and something that sits on something else is moving a bit. like if you had a metal heavy thing on a metal cart, not bolted tight enough, and pushed it around, it would make a noise. When i hear the noise i want to open the hood up and tighten something.

i did get a recording of the noise so if i cant recreate it at the dealership they can hear some of it.

 

[saddleboat]

so seems we were lucky and two subaru engineers happened to be at the dealer yesterday when we brought the car in. they were able to isolate the sound to the passenger side strut area. so they are going to replace the strut next week when the strut comes in. not sure yet what part of the strut is making the noise but they will take it apart and study it to figure that out later.

very pleased with the level of service and attention we are getting.

 

[JazzyOne]

i did get a recording of the noise so if i cant recreate it at the dealership they can hear some of it.

Good going. Did the recording seem to assist the engineers in identifying the issue?

 

[Subiesailor]

Struts are probably the cheapest and oldest technology on modern cars today. They can have manufacturing flaws just like any other part. I’m on my Second Subaru in about 330,000 miles combined and I bought my 2nd Subaru in large part due to Subaru the Company. I found that Subaru constantly is doing things the right things for its customers regarding simply replacing faulty parts and actually redesigning faulty parts if its a design issue vs simply building hundreds of thousands of vehicles with the same fault like so many of the other manufacturers out there.

In large part Subaru does it out of self preservation given Subaru is small. If they built thousands of vehicles with a known flaw Subaru would be done past history overnight.

But I think Subarus leaders know and see the positive results of its actions with customers like my self who like seeing an auto company that doesn’t end its relationship with a customer as soon as the vehicle leaves the lot.

Ford, GM, Toyota. VW etc when they suffer a big costly set back assuming their lawyers cant get it swept under the floor mat. They do as little to nothing as they can and wait for time mechanical obsolescence to phase out their costly mistake.

 

[saddleboat]

i never had to play the recording, they were able to hear the noise and learned how to recreate it - their technique was to go around 20 and apply the brakes a bit. i dont find the brakes are needed. we are driving it around until the new strut comes in and the sound is much more constant now, go under 25 and i can hear it.

and subiesailor, i agree with your perception of subaru. they took this very seriously, and popped open the hood to give me a little tutorial on what they think was wrong. no big deal that we got a bad strut, it happens, it will be replaced soon.

we are a long time subaru family, and the ascent is by far our favorite. we have had a legacy, outback and forester, and enjoyed all of them. the ascent experience is exceeding our already high expectations, even with a dumb strut.

 

[Ramboxman]

Glad you found the problem, I have the exact same issue same sound and a service appointment set for this upcoming Monday.

 

[saddleboat]

hope you let us know what they find/think about with your noise.

We of course will not know if they really found the problem in my car until they replace the strut and the noise stops.

 

[Ramboxman]

Can’t replicate it, car was hot and driving all day. It does indeed sound exactly like you sound. Dealership is close so I try again in the colder am and hope they can hear it.

 

[saddleboat]

we are still waiting for the new strut to come in, and have been driving in the meantime. The sound used to be tricky to replicate. Now it happens all of the time. I am also thinking the car is bouncier now, which makes sense if the strut is having issues.

 

[Ramboxman]

we are still waiting for the new strut to come in, and have been driving in the meantime. The sound used to be tricky to replicate. Now it happens all of the time. I am also thinking the car is bouncier now, which makes sense if the strut is having issues.

Please keep me posted, my car definitely has something going on when drive 15-25 and turning left. I seems to clunk twice almost always and more so when car is cold. Stop back at Subaru today but all the techs where at lunch and I did not want a loaner. I noticed another thread someone else had missing bolt on his strut. Have a recording of the sound from today. I going to get enough recordings and blast them to the service guy until I am satisfied with the result.

 

[saddleboat]

first time i heard it i was going around 25 and turning left. i have not noticed cold vs warm effecting the sound. the first time it was on the louder side and was two clunks. strange how it is quieter but more consistent now. the dealer says they get the sound most when turning but i notice it more when going straight. still waiting for the new strut. they did not find a missing bolt and they had it in for two days and had subaru engineers examine it, so i think they would have found a missing bolt.

it is strange that it really was the loudest the first time it ever clunked.

 

[SerGes]

We have a premium with almost 900 miles on it. love it. but yesterday, while going downhill, around 25mph, i heard a loud rumble/rattle, rrrrrumm vvvrrrrumlmrlrlrrrr. it stopped for a few seconds then it kept happening every minute or so when going 25mph or under, on rough patches in the road, seemed mostly when going downhill (i was on a windy road).

same sound happened a few times today, going in city driving for 15 miles or so, on and off. very on and off. I can try to replicate it, go around 18mph on rough patch and no sound. then a few minutes later, going 18mph on same kind of rough patch (most every road here is rough though, not dirt rough, city rough), and the rattle/rumble will be extended. The sound is mostly from the front passenger side, right in front of the passenger, but a few times came distinctly from the driver side. The sweet spot for speed is 15-18 mph to make the sound occur.

never ever makes the noise when accelerating. just a nice engine humming. never makes the noise above 30 or so mph. does not make the noise when braking.

so it does not seem to be engine or brake related.

one curious note. the sound started yesterday after i turned the AVH on for the first time ever. I drove most of yesterday with it on and worked great. The AVH was turned off today when the sound continued.

but i turned on the AVH today, used it a few times, then turned it off and the sound stopped occurring for the rest of the few miles home. (only one little rumble).

i was wondering if it is just the AVH breaking in. Maybe something in the AVH got stuck or something and had to turn it on and off today to get it right.

Also, it is not tire road or usual rattling of a car. It is a noise that would worry anyone driving any car. Like I have driven other cars plus 100,000 miles, over all sorts of surfaces, and not heard a "troubling" rumble like this one.

we called subaru service and will have it looked out tomorrow but wondering before we go if anyone else had this sound/problem.

I just got my premium in April . I’m having the exact same problem with the rattle noise occurring around 15-20 mph and during sharper turns at low speeds . Was it your struts afterall?

 

[Candivi]

Did you find out what the sound was? I am having the exact same problem

Thank you!!

We have a premium with almost 900 miles on it. love it. but yesterday, while going downhill, around 25mph, i heard a loud rumble/rattle, rrrrrumm vvvrrrrumlmrlrlrrrr. it stopped for a few seconds then it kept happening every minute or so when going 25mph or under, on rough patches in the road, seemed mostly when going downhill (i was on a windy road).

same sound happened a few times today, going in city driving for 15 miles or so, on and off. very on and off. I can try to replicate it, go around 18mph on rough patch and no sound. then a few minutes later, going 18mph on same kind of rough patch (most every road here is rough though, not dirt rough, city rough), and the rattle/rumble will be extended. The sound is mostly from the front passenger side, right in front of the passenger, but a few times came distinctly from the driver side. The sweet spot for speed is 15-18 mph to make the sound occur.

never ever makes the noise when accelerating. just a nice engine humming. never makes the noise above 30 or so mph. does not make the noise when braking.

so it does not seem to be engine or brake related.

one curious note. the sound started yesterday after i turned the AVH on for the first time ever. I drove most of yesterday with it on and worked great. The AVH was turned off today when the sound continued.

but i turned on the AVH today, used it a few times, then turned it off and the sound stopped occurring for the rest of the few miles home. (only one little rumble).

i was wondering if it is just the AVH breaking in. Maybe something in the AVH got stuck or something and had to turn it on and off today to get it right.

Also, it is not tire road or usual rattling of a car. It is a noise that would worry anyone driving any car. Like I have driven other cars plus 100,000 miles, over all sorts of surfaces, and not heard a "troubling" rumble like this one.

we called subaru service and will have it looked out tomorrow but wondering before we go if anyone else had this sound/problem.

 

[SerGes]

Did you find out what the sound was? I am having the exact same problem

Thank you!!

I’m curious what your build date is on your ascent? Mine was March of 2019 .. I waited to get one hoping some of these manufacturer problems would have been fixed by now . I have mess then 1500 miles and the rattles are getting worse and more consistent ?

 

[Joruni]

Mine is also doing the same noise. I think it was built in January 2019. I will verify the sticker and update if necessary.