A foghorn in the baja?

[Forte Agent v1.92]

My husband's 2003 Subaru Baja has had a weird noise ever since
purchase. We are taking it in to the dealer this week because of the
CEL popping on (1600 miles), but as the noise is very intermittent,
it's quite likely the dealer will not be able to hear it and therefore
won't check/fix it. It sounds like a low DOOOOOOOOOOOO (foghorn)
coming from the front end, almost always in hot weather and it appears
to happen only when the AC is on. It's not continuous-just a low
DOOOOOOOO then it stops and comes back a few minutes later. So far, it
does not SEEM to appear when the AC is off, but we haven't driven
enough with the problem to confirm this.

Any idea what we can have the dealer check?

H.

 

[Brian McCloskey]

Does this occur only when driving? If not, have you checked this out by
looking under the hood when it occurs? It sounds to me like the electric rad
fans kicking in, but I thought they were on constantly when the AC is on.
Easiest test is to warm up the Baja, turn on the AC, and then open the hood
and let it idle and see if the noise occurs with the cycling of the cooling
fans.
Regards
Brian

 

[Forte Agent v1.92]

Hmm. I think it MAY have done it once or twice at idle sitting at a
stoplight now that I think about it. It's REALLY annoying-first time
it happened we thought it was the air brake of a truck next to us.

I'll try to check it out today if it happens, although I think my
husband is scared to drive it much with the CEL on (I keep telling
him it's probably just an o2 sensor, so I hope I am right there). The
foghorn noise is much more annoying tho.

H.

featherz at mindspring dot com

 

[JaySee]

It's the radiator fan. Same thing on my 03 WRX. I didn't hear it
until I drove w/ the radiator off in stop and go traffic.

 

[R]

My husband's 2003 Subaru Baja has had a weird noise ever since
purchase. We are taking it in to the dealer this week because of the
CEL popping on (1600 miles), but as the noise is very intermittent,
it's quite likely the dealer will not be able to hear it and therefore
won't check/fix it. It sounds like a low DOOOOOOOOOOOO (foghorn)
coming from the front end, almost always in hot weather and it appears
to happen only when the AC is on. It's not continuous-just a low

That happned to me, and the passengers in my car got a funny look
on their faces. I tightened the a/c belt, and it hasn't happened
since. The belt was already fairly tight, but I tighteed it further.