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a gurgling or churning...


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seems to be coming from behind/near the center console of my 96 OBW AT 113k. The sound first appeared uphill under load ~45mph just before a chattering.

After taking the car to S.I.R. (thank you richie) for a new HG and tranny service, the car hasn't chattered, but the sound happened again, at a different time.

After driving for ~20 mins, and parking for ~ 15 mins, I started the car and it made the sound for a few seconds.

 

Any ideas? Sorry for the lame description, it's a tough one for me to describe.

 

Thanks for the help

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Why would air in the cooling system make a 'gurgling' that sounds like it's coming from behind the center console?

I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm just curious. I don't know enough about my car to diagnose sounds.

 

Maybe the sound is being projected to behind the center console, but it sure sounds like it's coming from beneath the floor in that area.

 

Another description of the sound would be to compare it to a loose, or rumbling exhaust, mixed with a gurgle.

 

Sorry for being so vague.

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Why would air in the cooling system make a 'gurgling' that sounds like it's coming from behind the center console?

 

Because your heater core is back there and air moving through it with the coolant can cause odd noises.

 

 

Another description of the sound would be to compare it to a loose, or rumbling exhaust, mixed with a gurgle

 

This "rumble" may be loose heat shields on the exhaust.

 

Crawl under and bang on the shields with a gloved fist.

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Is there a good picture or description of the heater core location in the Haynes manual?

 

Do I just need to park on an incline, open the radcap, start the car, add coolant to the filler neck, and wait for the bubbles to stop? Or would I be better off taking it back into the shop?

 

Thanks again for the help

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Sorry for :horse:, but I just want to make sure I'm not explaining this wrong.

 

The gurgling sounds like its coming from between the front and rear seats, just behind the center armrest (console) beneath the car.

 

The sound is not coming from the dash. The other heater core posts I've read talk about the sound coming from behind the dash, so that confused me.

 

I'm going to top off the coolant and hope that helps, maybe park on the incline and run with rad cap off to look for bubbles, but the car has heat-o-plenty, and no issues with the temp rising.

 

Thanks for the assist.

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The sound could even be coming from further back, like almost beneath the rear seats. Could that be the center diff? (sorry, not up to date on all the soob terminologies)

 

I'll check the heatshields and for rubbing on the driveshaft, but the last two times it happened, the gurgle was on start-up and only lasted a few seconds when in park. The car seems to have low power (low rpm) when this happens. Only has happened after the car was driven for ~20min then parked for 10-15 min.

 

What would be moving around that area when the car has just been started and is in park?

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