Buzzing sound in passenger side door?

[logan5]

Hey all! I just got my vehicross and love it! There is this REALLY annoying buzzing sound which seems to be coming from the passenger side door. I tried messing with the locks and windows but can't seem to stop it. It happens sporatically but mainly when I go 20mph or more. Does anyone have any ideas on how I can troubleshoot this problem? I fixed a nasty rattle where the spare tire is but can't seem to figure this one out. Thanks a lot in advance!

[thedutchguy]

disconnect the electrics going to your door, if the sound is still present it's probably vibration in the window mechanism.

[PHO2GR4]

I think it's your passenger door window assembly...notorious for breaking.

Pull the interior door panel. You may find that part of it has physically separated (or even flat-out broken) off of the glass.

If there's nothing obvious, just keep that door panel off and drive around for awhile, holding on to various parts of that door to try to locate and stop the source of the rattle. It may help to actually have a passenger sitting next to you!

[rowhard]

What Pho2Gr4 is talking about is a harmonic vibration. really annoying. I wrote a thread here about outside door handle repair. The inside panel removal is covered in the thread in case you have never removed one before. http://www.vehicross.info/modules.php?name=Content&file=viewarticle&op=newarticle&id=22

[logan5]

Wow, thanks everyone for the fast replies. Looks like I have my work cut out for me :) I'll see if I can locate the problem using all the info on this thread and report back!

[Cobrajet]

Before you go pulling your door apart check to make sure it's not your glove box door. I tried to find a vibration induced rattle/buzz for months, and then yesterday, while on a bad stretch of road I opened the glove box to see if there was something in it that was rattling. I noticed that the door rattle sounded a lot like the rattle I had been chasing, but different. I put a polishing cloth between the door and the dash and closed the glove box door and the rattle went away. When I got home I put a small felt pad on each flat spot on the door where the rubber bumpers hit, and this was enough to tighten the door and stop the rattle. A slight adjustment to the door catch would accomplish the same thing, but I already had the felt pads handy.
It's worth a shot.

[logan5]

I tried driving with the passenger side door open and still had the buzz/rattle. I think it's in the door itself but it's really hard to tell for sure. I'm thinking it's best to remove the door completely, drive around and see if the buzz is still there. If so then it's in the dash and not in the door...

[logan5]

I found it!!! I took apart my door and that wasn't the problem. I took out my passenger seat and pulled up the rug and it turned out to be a faulty relay, connected to the stereo preamp (40A/30A 12VDC). It sounded like a rattle in the door. The funny thing is that when I would hit the gas or brakes it would make a mechanical buzzing sound which is why I couldn't figure out if it was electronic or just something loose. When I held the transformer it REALLY made a buzzing sound. I unplugged it and the noise stopped (it was SOOO irritating and loud!). When I unplugged it the 'CHECK' light under the torque on demand 4 wheel drive light came on. The car seemed to run OK without the relay/transformer but I'm not sure how important it is. I thought it was just for the preamp which was installed under the passenger seat but it appears to affect the Torque On Demand in some way. Thanks for everyone's help! I'm uploading a photo of the relay to this thread in case someone else needs to know ...
P.S. Turns ut I can't upload photos here so here is a link to the relay:
http://www.in-car-stuff.com/shop/relay-spco-p-59.html

My relay says it's 40A/30A 12VDC

[etlsport]

logan, as faar as i know there shouldnt be a relay under the passenger seat.. do you have a photo of the relay where it was on your vx? that would be helpful in figuring out why its affecting your tod... to upload a photo to this site click on "gallery" from the top bar just under the vehicross.info logo, then on the next page look at that bar again and there will be a "gallery links" option, click that and look for "upload photos" in that menu

[logan5]

logan, as faar as i know there shouldnt be a relay under the passenger seat.. do you have a photo of the relay where it was on your vx? that would be helpful in figuring out why its affecting your tod... to upload a photo to this site click on "gallery" from the top bar just under the vehicross.info logo, then on the next page look at that bar again and there will be a "gallery links" option, click that and look for "upload photos" in that menu

Uh oh, OK, I'll get a photo up tomorrow. I hope this doesn't lead down a dark path because I've been trying to get a new in-dash stereo working and it just won't power on. I hope the previous owner of my VX didn't do some bad damage to the wiring...

[etlsport]

just curious, was there an aftermarket sound system in your vx when you got it? what does the preamp look like? the TOD computer is under the passenger seat and not much room for a whole lot else..

[thedutchguy]

just curious, was there an aftermarket sound system in your vx when you got it? what does the preamp look like? the TOD computer is under the passenger seat and not much room for a whole lot else..
The "brain" unit of a pioneer avic system fits nicely alongside TOD unit!

[Techy-D]

Maybe someone cut the wire for the TOD and put in a relay, so they could turn it off and on?
Just a thought.
Can you figure out what turns that relay on and off? Maybe a switch somewhere under the dash or around the console?

[logan5]

I spent all day installing a new DVD In-Dash stereo (with the help of a best buy stereo installer) and searched long and hard for why this relay needed to stay connected to the TOD brain under the passenger seat. The Best Buy guy was stumped. I need to keep it connected or else the TOD CHECK light comes on. Wow, does this relay make noise! I'm going to install a new one tomorrow and get those photos up as well. Thanks for all your help and I'll have more info soon!

[etlsport]

yea best buy installers generally know very little, esp about the vx... one of us could probably figure out why the relay is there/affecting the tod in 5-10 minutes

[logan5]

OK, I'll get photos up tomorrow, thanks!

[logan5]

OK etlsport (and fellow VXers), I FINALLY have been able to get the photo up, sorry it took so long! I'm in the process of moving and things have been VERY hectic here. Here's what I wrote in the photo regarding the relay / TOD problem and a link to the photo:
http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=2889

"I bought my VX with an aftermarket stereo already installed. The original cd player wasn't connected but still remained in the dash. I had a nasty buzzing sound which I was able to figure out was coming from this relay connected to my tod box under the passenger seat. When I disconnect the relay the TOD check light comes on. It seems the TOD is drawing power from the relay. The 2 red circles indicate where the relay is connected. The black is a ground and the white is connected to the VX's blue TOD wire. I think the original stereo gave power to the TOD and now a relay has to be in place in order for the TOD to get power. I WANT TO DISCONNECT THE RELAY! I've tried everything to make it silent but I CAN"T GET IT TO BE MORE QUIET no matter how much I wrap it up!!! It has to go! I'm planning on installing a new stereo so maybe I can use IT to give power to the TOD instead of the relay. Right now I don't have a stereo installed..."

[etlsport]

im going to go out on a limb and guess thats not factory... i have been down there on my vx and havent seen anything like that.. i would try to trace where all of the wires go and see if there is a switch or something used to turn the tod on and off.. do you have a 4wd switch on your dashboard somewhere? VXs don't come with them from the factory, if you do maybe someone who has done this mod can shed some light on what the problem is/how it works

if it were me, i would remove the relay and reattach the wires that come out of the tod harness to their matching counterpart going to the rest of the vehicle.. namely the light blue wire which is the reason your tod starts flashing when you pulled that relay

[etlsport]

your stereo and your tod really shouldnt have anything to do with each other.. i dont know who would have put that in there connected to the stereo... or why

[logan5]

Thanks for replying. The relay is attached to the blue wire like a parasite. The blue wire is still plugged into to BorgWerner amp and then disappears underneath the carpet. The plastic is cut away exposing the wire and the relay is attached there. This is really hard to explain but I am doing my best :) I will try to follow the wire to see where it leads but don't know if I'll have much luck. It looks to me as though there used to be something attached to the relay like a swich or GPS or something and now is gone.

[Raque Thomas]

Borg Warner is the manufacturer of the TOD system, not an amp. It was mentioned in earlier threads on this site that to rig up a system to turn the TOD on and off it involved cutting the light blue wire coming from the TOD computer under the passenger seat. As was earlier theorized, I think the previous owner of your VX had installed a TOD cut off switch. You can go to Tone's site linked from this site and download the workshop manual, which has electrical diagrams. It may be a whole lot easier to just take the relay to an electronics place to match it up, and then hook it back up as it was using a new (and non-buzzing) relay. Good luck, and let us know how it turns out!

[AREA 51]

It looks like the relay is shunting the tod wire. To where, I can't tell, from the picture.

It may be that this relay is wired to circumvent the tod warning light.

Did your tod system ever function properly?

I see other wires in your picture. A yellow and another with a solderless connector. Where do those wires go?

I'd suggest removing the silver splice connector on the blue- blue- white wires and then make a good splice of the blue- blue wires, eliminating the white wire that appears to be tapped off of and NOT interrupting the blue tod wire. You should then be able to remove the relay with no adverse effects on the tod system.

[mdwyer]

By the way, I might know why your stereo won't work: The ground wire in the radio harness isn't connected to anything. The (-) power lead to the stereo goes through the frame -- not the harness.

I yanked my stock radio, plugged in the new one and it didn't work! So I plugged the stock radio back in, and IT didn't work anymore! At this point, I just gave up and decided to stuff everything back into the dash and get help.

As soon as the stock radio grounded itself to frame, it kicked on!

Once I ran a pigtail from some grounded metal to the radio, the new stereo worked great! Hopefully, your problem is just as simple.

[logan5]

Thanks a lot for all the info guys. I returned my stereo and will be purchasing another soon. When I do I'll follow your advice mdwyer...

Area 51, I'll check where those wires go and post. I'm a little nervous about the TOD now. Is it any indication that it's working if when I put it into low all the lights come on for the TOD and I get more power (ie: going up a hill)? I've put my VX in low when I couldn't climb a hill in high and the low worked as just described. How do I know if the high is working? I drove in a lot of rain and I don't remember the TOD lights all coming on, only the lower rung of lights remained lit. I know the power gets distributed as needed and I'm wondering when the 2nd or 3rd rung of TOD lights are supposed to come on...Is there any way of testing this? Reason I need to know is that if somehow the TOD is screwy then nothing I do will fix the problem. Again, when I remove the relay the light comes on so finding out if my TOD is OK I think would be a good place to start. Thanks a lot guys!

Raque Thomas: I will definitely download the manuals you suggested. Also, I tried replacing the relay and it makes the same noise so it must not be broken.

[etlsport]

if the same buzzing noise happened it means that the wiring was done wrong and the relay was shorting.. probably just mixed up what location two of the wires should have plugged into on the relay

as for your TOD.. DO NOT DO NOT put it in 4Lo unless you are somewhere that your wheels can freely slip (loose dirt, gravel, snow) or you will bind up your driveline.. during everyday driving and even in rain its normal to have 1 bar on the front wheels lit up all the time (except at start and up to 5-10mph, then its usually 0 in the front) to test your tod find a dirt or gravel road and from a dead stop hit the gas as hard as you can and your tod should light up all 3 front wheel bars at least momentarily... if its safe to do so you may want to slam on your brakes after that to let your tod kick in as mentioned in another thread

if i were you, like area51 said... i would remove the relay and reattach the blue wires together, thats what is causing your tod to flash when you disconnect the relay, the blue wire being discontinued... i couldnt tell from the photo whether or not there are any other wires spliced from the harness going into the TOD, but if there are i would recommend reattaching it to the rest of the wires, after that tape off any remaining loose wires (probably your ground and a hot wire, so be weary of that)

[AREA 51]

After thinking about this for a while, I'm wondering if the previous owner might've used the coil in the relay in place of the resistor described in the tod disconnect theory. That would explain the constant buzzing when there is power on the blue wire (almost always), but wouldn't explain the warning light when relay removed since that would break the connection from tod wire- relay coil- ground (unless something is wrong with the tod).

[logan5]

The blue wire is not disconnected from the TOD brain. There is no severe in the blue wire at all. They cut the plastic guarding the wire and wrapped the wire from the relay around it and taped it up. Thats why I figured if I removed the relay nothing would happen because the blue wire is still intact.

I am looking at the manuals for the TOD now and I'll tell you what I find. Thanks again!!