What a Wheeze

Hi All,Driving home tonight, whilst going slowly in the village, my car started to ‘wheeze’ very heavily as though a vacuem filling or pressure escaping. At first I thought it was inthe front but then it seemed it might have been at the back. It sounded really awful and was quite alarming but disappeared after a few seconds with no apparent after effects.Oil, water, temp, aircon pipes all seem OK, no fluid spills under the car. The radiator fan cut in when I stopped a few minutes later - could it have been a reluctant fan starting up? I suppose it could have been a plastic bag stuck in the wheel arch or something - I just haven’t a clue. I simply cannot work it out. Anyone got any ideas?Mike

MikeI have had a siezed cooling fan on my car at about 12 months old / 10,000 miles.Apparently, due to the location of it, water easily enters the bearings and can cause siezure.My cooling fan was making a horrible noise, until of course I had it replaced under warranty!This may not be and probably isn’t the what your noise was, but just my 2 pence worth.C U at LDC meet Thursday eveGiles

Does your air-conditioner still ‘condition’ the air? Could be the gas escaping.

Hi,Thanks for replies. I took the car to work again today - absolutely no problems.I’m beginning to think it was a ‘stuck’ radiator fan starting up.Aircon seems no worse than usual.I’ve been messing around with cars for 30 years and I never heard anything like this before!Oh well…Mike

Sounds like I’ve had exactly the same problem, very odd noise started suddenly like a release of pressure then a horrible clanging - possibly from left front. It has happended twice, both times I’ve stopped checked the wheels for debris, found nothing, then driven off with no further problem. In both cases the car had warm but I wouldn’t say excessively hot and I don’t have aircon. I drove about 100m after one occurrance without any further noise.The front left suspension damper is leaking slightly and tierod has some movement, but I can’t think of a link nor explain the sudden disappearance.You all seem to be guru’s on the exige so I’d be interested in any ideas.Kerry

When my aircon has been on it sometimes makes a sort of groaning wheezing sound for a few seconds … comes from the front dash area … I always thought it was the gas in the aircon …