General wtf is that noise?

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General wtf is that noise?

didnt make a difference, it literally happens as soon as you pull the end of the key put of the barrel. Also seems to come from around the steering wheel area.
 
didnt make a difference, it literally happens as soon as you pull the end of the key put of the barrel. Also seems to come from around the steering wheel area.

I think you're getting confused here, it's not the key removal bit - it's the key off action (although normally, of course, you'd just take the key straight out). If you leave the key in after turning off, the noise still occurs. Suspect it's the body computer shutting down, and then power feeds being cut as that happens.
 
nah, turn the car off and leave the key in for 10 secs and it won't do,it till you pull the key out, turn off and pull the key out and it'll do it straight away.
 
I know. This is coincident with the interior light coming on? It is an 'electrical' noise as you said - it's the MOSFET (transistor) dimmer that passes the current for the bulbs. Basically a buzz but sometimes nearly a 'twang' as the casing of the transistor resonates to the frequency that it operates at. Might also hear some of the sound from the bulb filament resonating.

If you sit in the car after closing the door without putting the key in, after a few moments you'll hear the same sound in reverse as the interior light 'dims down'.

It is possible for a solid-state device to make a sound - like the piezoelectric effect - I used to have a PC with a graphics card that made a whining noise from the chips on the card in time with when I moved the mouse pointer around. That was maddening...

-Alex
 
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Haha! I posted a thread on this three years ago!

https://www.fiatforum.com/500/254069-what-random-thing-does-your-500-do.html

As per my first post there, it did it for a while in our old 500, then it didn't...then it did, and then it didn't again!(y)

Anyway, basically it's a really, really small bloke no bigger than your thumb who likes to go busking. For some reason he has an affinity with 500s, he likes to swap cars every now and then which is why you are hearing it now...Quite simple really.

:D
 
My old 500 did this every time never figured what it was, seemed to come from the left side.

New one doesn't do it, kinda miss it strangely enough :eek:
 
Revisited this last night with my car, you're right Daniel, it's definitely on key-out, rather than key-off. I suspect, as has been said all along, it's a strange noise amplified within the body computer (which is fixed in a pretty hollow area of the dash) when the interior light comes on.
 
Revisited this last night with my car, you're right Daniel, it's definitely on key-out, rather than key-off. I suspect, as has been said all along, it's a strange noise amplified within the body computer (which is fixed in a pretty hollow area of the dash) when the interior light comes on.

I thought I was the only sane one around here :eek:

-Alex
 
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