The car has been running fine and when I drive it, I notice nothing(probably because the windows are up). When I turn it off, though, I hear a whirring winding down that I don’t remember before.
Here are two videos, one with the hood down, one with the hood up. The sound starts a few seconds after the engine starts.
Sounds like the radiator fan. Maybe a bearing is failing on the fan. But frankly, The sound seems normal to me.
It won’t come on so quickly in the winter but now being summer, it comes on sooner after the engine starts. Not sure if this accounts for you saying “didn’t hear that sound before…”
Is it really hot out? It sounds like the engine fan (controlled electrically or by a clutch) is kicking on. It happens more often when it’s really hot out.
Check your radiator fluid. If the fluid level is fine in the overflow container I would still open the radiator and check to make sure there really is enough fluid in there. If the radiator is empty but there is fluid in the overflow container then the radiator cap is bad.
It might just be running the fan like that since it’s hot out (it is summer after all). If you have enough radiator fluid though and it runs like that continuously, then it’s time to take it to a mechanic. As beowulff said, it’s probably a bad temperature sensor or possibly some other cooling problem. I don’t know if your car has a fan relay but that’s another part that commonly fails. If you can find the relay (google might help you there) try giving it a bit of a whack. Not too hard. You don’t want to break the relay. My Cadillac had a stuck relay that caused the fan to stay on constantly. I gave the relay a whack with my hand and the fan went off. Happened again about a month later, and again, a quick whack fixed it. That was about 7 years ago and the relay hasn’t stuck again, which is not typical. It’s much more common that the relay will start sticking more and more frequently until you finally need to replace it.
Does your car have an actual temperature gauge or just an idiot light? If it’s the latter, is the light coming on?
It could certainly be the AC. It dumps heat out right near the radiator. Whether or not it can independently control the engine fan, I don’t know. It may even have it’s own fan (in which case, that could be what you’re hearing).
I’d start by turning the AC off. However, turning the heat on (fan speed high, windows open), will actually help cool the engine a bit.
Some quick googling suggests you have TWO electric fans. I’m guessing, due to the heat or the AC, what you’re hearing is both of them running instead of one or none.
It is specifically the A.C. that makes this happen. When I run it with no heating or cooling on, it is normal. When I run it with the fan blowing heat or cool air, it is normal.
After I turn the AC on, this noise begins(it’s quite loud) after about 2-3 seconds.
Normal? I don’t think my wife’s 2012 makes the same noise with the AC going. I wonder if I should take it in with the info. I have…
100% normal. The fan is likely on a pressure switch. With the added ambient heat, there’s more pressure on the high side and it’s kicking the fan on.
It wouldn’t hurt to take a quick glance at the radiator (engine cooling and AC condenser) and make sure they’re not full of leaves or anything else that’s blowing around. They tend to stay pretty clean, but if you notice anything, hose them off and try to knock out as much of it as you can.
Again, totally normal.
As for you wife’s car, if it’s a different car, things are different. The way it’s set up, it might not need as much extra cooling as yours, it might use the engine fan so you don’t notice it as much or a million other reasons.
I think what others have said is a good place to start and if everything checks out, look into recharging your A/C refrigerant. You say you’re running it on “high” all the time. Do you mean the fan or do you simply have the temp set to the lowest setting? If the fan is always on high, is it because the cabin is not cooling sufficiently at lower fan speeds? Just a preference for lot’s of air blowing on you?
Just another thing to consider.
Oh, and may as well replace your cabin air filter.
I haven’t checked this particular model, but many (most? all?) cars will turn the radiator fan on when the AC is turned on, regardless of the coolant temperature.