Car problems, buzzing/rattling and brakes freezing

[Axl_05]

I just bought my sonic. And during the summer months it was great. But now that winter is here (I live in the north), the car is starting to have some problems...


First, I'm hearing a droning rattle coming from the front of the car. It sounds like I bought a cheap ricer exhaust. Its this metalic buzzing rattle, like something resonating in a coffee can. It used to only do it around the 2100 RPM range, but now that range has grown to about 1900 to 2500. And even worse, its doing it when I idle as well (just not as much. Its less of a drone, more of a rattle at idle). The noise is driving me insane.

Second, since the weather has turned freezing, I'll go out to my car, let it heat up for about 5-10 minutes, and try to drive. Except the brakes seem to be stuck shut. The car won't roll. I notice because I drive a manual, and any resistance I feel acutely, especially when shifting and coasting. I know its the brakes because the car comes to an almost immediate stop if I disengage the clutch and try to coast. The car is really not drivable in this state. It also seems to drive the traction control nuts. Eventually something frees up and I can drive again. I have no clue whats going on though.

So, has anyone experienced any of these problems? Any help would be greatly appreciated. (I've taken my car to the dealer twice now... and they've been unable to fix anything).

 

[Breezybro]

I've had my manual 13 rs going on two winters, no brake problems here.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using Tapatalk

 

[$ub$onic]

How often do you use your parking brake?

 

[Axl_05]

Every time I park, since its a manual.

I was talking with my dad and he thinks it might be the traction control going haywire and applying the brakes when it shouldn't be. I've got no clue.

Its done the brake thing twice to me now in three days. Its pretty troubling.

 

[Rhet]

Same problem here since last week when the temps hit the low 20's. 2014 RS manual. No rattling but the parking brake seems to be freezing. First time it happened I was trying to leave work, absolutely could not back out of the space, the car would just kinda hunch down and not go anywhere. I was afraid of damaging something if I pushed it. Gave it more time to see if it would thaw out, after about 45 minutes I wound up calling roadside assistance, while I was on the phone with them after they had dispatched a tow truck the car decided to start rolling backwards (had just been sitting in neutral with the parking brake off) :blankface: total time was about an hour and 15 minutes. Since then I've mostly been just parking with it in gear and not using the parking brake, but last night with the car all warmed up I stopped at a gas station in the few minutes it took me to run inside the damn brake froze again (~15F here). Only took a few minutes to get moving this time, but I was definitely feeling a lot of drag, reset the gas mileage monitor and was only getting mid to upper 20's on the highway with cruise control set at 63, on a mostly downhill stretch (only about 5 miles to my exit)... I'm currently waiting on my dealer to call me back, they're trying to squeeze me in sooner, apparently they're pretty slammed right now and they're going to be closed for half a week for the holiday next week, which is not reassuring...

 

[5.0]

I don't have the rattle noise you have. However I have experienced the frozen parking brake as others have mentioned. I have been lucky though as soon as i put pressure on them trying to back out they "popped" and released.

 

[Chevrolet Customer Care]

I just bought my sonic. And during the summer months it was great. But now that winter is here (I live in the north), the car is starting to have some problems...


First, I'm hearing a droning rattle coming from the front of the car. It sounds like I bought a cheap ricer exhaust. Its this metalic buzzing rattle, like something resonating in a coffee can. It used to only do it around the 2100 RPM range, but now that range has grown to about 1900 to 2500. And even worse, its doing it when I idle as well (just not as much. Its less of a drone, more of a rattle at idle). The noise is driving me insane.

Second, since the weather has turned freezing, I'll go out to my car, let it heat up for about 5-10 minutes, and try to drive. Except the brakes seem to be stuck shut. The car won't roll. I notice because I drive a manual, and any resistance I feel acutely, especially when shifting and coasting. I know its the brakes because the car comes to an almost immediate stop if I disengage the clutch and try to coast. The car is really not drivable in this state. It also seems to drive the traction control nuts. Eventually something frees up and I can drive again. I have no clue whats going on though.

So, has anyone experienced any of these problems? Any help would be greatly appreciated. (I've taken my car to the dealer twice now... and they've been unable to fix anything).

Hey there,

If you decide to take it back into the dealership, please let me know if you need any additional assistance with this. We would be happy to reach out to them on your behalf. Please feel free to send us a private message along with your VIN, current mileage, contact information and a preferred dealership. Looking forward to your response.

Patsy G
Chevrolet Customer Care

 

[ahtoxa]

For the rattle - check your heat shields. When cold, metal shrinks and might vide at different frequencies, which happen to be the right frequencies in your case, coinciding with the motor vibe frequencies.

Stuck brakes - in vast majority of cases this is the rears freezing, not the front. I've had that issue on multiple cars when I lived in Chicago.

The only reliable solution I've ever found was to NOT use the parking brake. Simply park the car in gear if it all possible, i.e. when you're on flat ground. If the problem goes away when you don't use the handbrake, you know that was the culprit.

In fact, a freezing handbrake is a common issue in the cold. Happens quite a bit, at least to people I knew and myself.

 

[Axl_05]

Thanks for the replies. I brought it back to the dealership this morning because the brakes were frozen again for the fourth time in 3 days. It turns out it was only the driverside rear brake, which was really strange. Hopefully its just the parking brake being frozen. Should know in a few days. They're also really slammed. Cold weather is messing with everyone's cars I guess.

 

[Rhet]

Meant to update after I got my car back from the dealer a few days ago, better late than never. So my dealer found a "rubber boot" wasn't seated properly and had allowed moisture to get to the cable for the parking brake. They dried it as best they could (was told it was impossible to get it 100% dry) and got the rubber piece seated properly. So far it hasn't frozen since, but temps haven't gotten much bellow freezing, and I was told if it keeps happening they might have to replace some parts to completely remedy the issue. The tech believed the piece wasn't seated properly in the factory when the vehicle was built. Might be worth relaying that info to your dealer if you keep having problems.

 

[98onyxss]

Just had this happen today! Right rear tire was locked solid. Had to have it towed to the dealer. I suspected water in the parking brake cables. Low and behold, the dealership couldn't reproduce it because once the car was inside, it thawed out. So they sent me home, and now I'm just waiting for it to happen again!

 

[Chevrolet Customer Care]

Just had this happen today! Right rear tire was locked solid. Had to have it towed to the dealer. I suspected water in the parking brake cables. Low and behold, the dealership couldn't reproduce it because once the car was inside, it thawed out. So they sent me home, and now I'm just waiting for it to happen again!

Oh no! We hope that this does not happen again, and we certainly understand your frustrations with this. If you need any additional assistance into the dealership, please let me know in a private message and I would be happy to look into this further for you.

Patsy G
Chevrolet Customer Care

 

[98onyxss]

Happened again tonight. Luckily I was at the shop. Threw it on the rack and found the problem within 5 seconds of looking underneath. The boot on the cable wasn't pushed down over the end of the cable sheath. I took some pictures, sprayed some wd40 down in the cable. (I'll get a bottle of heet and pour some in it tomorrow to displace and absorb the water.) Then I installed the boot correctly and zip stripped both ends in place. I took pictures of that as well. I'll be getting in touch with the rep here and my dealership. I'm pissed that they supposedly were under my car and checked everything out. Now they owe me for my time.

 

[98onyxss]

Left Before


Right Before


Left After


Right After



As soon as I crawled under and looked at the right side parking brake assembly, it was pretty damn obvious why water was getting into the parking brake cable and freezing. Without a longer boot that can stay sealed on both the sheath and the cable end, zip strips or some sort of clamp (possibly a small oetiker or band clamp - think tiny cv boot clamp) should be a possible solution to prevent this.

 

[Velocity]

98ony,
I have had the same problem with my emergency brakes freezing also, thanks for the pics.....I also took mine in to the dealer and they had it up on the rack and said they saw nothing wrong... My boots were not seated on both sides. Wonder what customer care can find out if they should be seated? I did the same fix as you . We are going to get super cold this week so Im anxious to see if this fixes it... If you get any info from customer care can you post it?

Thanks,
Scott

 

[Papasonic]

Part of the joy of having rear disc brakes! Hope that properly seating the boots resolves the problem. Dealers should inspect things like this on pre-delivery.

 

[98onyxss]

This should prevent any more water from getting in the cable. Unfortunately this does nothing for the moisture already in the cable. So without treatment with a water absorbent chemical, or heating to evaporate the water in the cable it will freeze again.

 

[Velocity]

I used a small fitting and blew out the hose the best I could . I was able dry it out, some water sprayed out then sprayed some wd-40 in the hose and blew the hose out again.... It's 24 degrees now so in the morning we will see how I did.

Thanks again for the pics.
Scott

 

[RMinNJ]

drums ?

Can we have the same cable problem with drum brakes on the LT?

Need to get under there.

 

[Velocity]

Update.... Well I had to unhook the brake line to dump water out. Now we are good to go. No freeze up going forward....

Scott