I'm thrilled to see so many active bloggers expressing different things about their EX.

So...here's my first one. I've begun to notice that when I depress the gas pedal, I hear a ringing sound (much like the ringing sound you have after you leave a night club/listen to loud music for a prolong period). While in drive, the sound happens immediately as I depress the gas. While in neutral, the sound doesn't come around until about 2k rpm. It's very subtle, but now that I know it's there, it is VERY anoying. So, does anyone else have this issue. Either my hearing is like superman's or I'm going crazy - I hope it's the first option.

I'm wondering if it's related to the fuel pump noise I hear at startup...I'm going in on Monday to have the pump replaced and perhaps that will solve it, but I'm doubtful. I think the two issues are independent.

Thoughts?

I too turn up the radio and it becomes inaudible...maybe that's the fix!

I don't think it will leave me stranded, but it sure can get anoying when I'm listening for it.

I've heard it in other cars I've driven (I'm always traveling, so I rent an aweful lot of cars), but I usually don't care because it's a rental...

I can see me at the dealer trying to explain this..."you hear it, you hear it? There it is again, just press the gas pedal." Technician says, "I don't hear anything...you're hearing things. Perhaps you should go see a shrink."

Hehe ... welcome to NICO, Magic!!

I don't hear the sound you're describing, but that could just be the ravages of too many years playing in a rock band. I've owned several turbo-charged cars that emit a characteristic whistling, but not in my EX.

Cheers,
David

I've been meaning to post about this one actually.

I think the best way of describing it is a very high pitched electrical buzzing noise. Just one pitch. It's either there or its not. It does it as soon as the gas pedal is depressed even the slightest amount, or like you said if cruise control takes over. I normally have the radio on fairly loud so can't hear it, but with it turned down or off its ALWAYS there. It's coming from inside the cabin somewhere, no idea what it is though, and it is annoying. You're right, it does sound like when you've been at a club for hours and you come out and your ears are ringing.

The problem with this is that it's so high pitched, quite a few people may not be able to hear it. As you get older, your ability to hear higher frequencies diminishes.

So, I don't have to go see a shrink afterall

sg77 and aft981 thank you for confirming my suspicion!!

See, once you hear it for the first time and know what to listen for, it will never go away. It's kinda like this:

Well, I have news. I took my car into the dealer today to get the fuel pump replaced and to investigate this sound. Good news and bad news. Good news: They replaced the fuel pump so no more start-up noise!!!
Bad news: They were unable to notice the high-pitched noise I can hear each time I step on the gas pedal.

The technician said that if enough people complain about it (like the fuel pump issue), then Infiniti would likely issue a TSB. The key for the moment is to be patient he said ...so,

I'm curious to see if the more people who come across this thread write about it as well...please do, I need more therapy that says I'm not crazy or hearing things.

But for now it's just

It's super anoying and I'm finding it difficult to fathom how I'm going to have this car for years with this ringing...I've tried to ignore it, but now that I know it's there, I can't! It sucks having to listen to it.

All the way to work today I was listening to it and now I'm really a grump so sorry for the sour mood...

I e-mailed Infiniti regarding your problem and they replied with the following:

"Dear Sir/Madam,

We have looked into your problem and have been advised to inform you that the fix for your problem is included with your vehicle.

Your vehicle is equipped with an 11-speaker Bose audio system that not only sounds great, but is extremely effective at drowning out random noises that may surface during regular use of your vehicle.

If you continue hearing the sound, please turn up the volume of the audio system until you can no longer hear the sound.

We would like to thank you for purchasing an Infiniti vehcile and if you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us at 1-800-662-6200."

I hope that helps!

- KJ

I hope that's a joke. Besides... the Bose System can't hold a candle to the Lexus Mark Levinson/Acura ELS System.

I also am having the same issue. Taken my car in 4 times now and still the Service Director can't hear a damn thing. I thought I was going nuts as well... until my wife heard it too.

If anyone figures out what this is... please post it here. I've got an appointment next week.

BTW... I think the trick to diagnosing this is to drive the car with a tech... since you know how to make the noise consistently. Have them sit in the seat behind you. High frequency noise is directional and I think the noise is coming from the front passenger area. So if someone is sitting there... they are blocking the noise from being heard.

If anyone wants Mark Igo's email address (General Manager of Infiniti) to complain, let me know and I'll post it.

Modified by tazdevl at 10:37 PM 12/21/2008

I don't think the noise is from the engine compartment. It's electrical in nature and almost sounds like it could be a grounding issue or a short circuit.

Modified by tazdevl at 9:03 AM 2/19/2009

I've had a friend press the gas pedal while I perused around the engine compartment and I couldn't find anything there. I'ts coming from within the cabin area in the front. I suspect that it may be behind the status/nav screen, but have been unable to verify...

Will post what the resolution is later, asssuming they have one.

Here's what I told them...
- Electrical whine or ringing (good description magicman... think that made the diff) sound that happens under gentle acceleration from a stop.
- If they don't know what to listen for, they can try taking their foot off the gas suddenly and they should notice the absence of sound.
- Also easy to hear when at speed and you're lightly goosing the throttle to maintain speed.
- Easier to hear under 40mph.
- Cannot have someone in the passenger seat because the sound is emanating from that area.

Modified by tazdevl at 3:49 PM 1/22/2009

If this doesn't get resolved soon... I'm about to hit the frequency limit with the lemon law. Don't blame the dealership, they're doing their best but Infiniti needs to do a better job on the design, manuf or QC front. This in many ways has been a less than desirable ownership experience because the car has been in so many times for so many different things.

Not to mention, I still have a driver side window rattle on asphalt seamed roads and drivers seat shift under hard braking (but not panicked) which has yet to be "witnessed" by the dealership.

Modified by tazdevl at 9:10 AM 2/19/2009

Have you brought up the 5 time in the shop lemon law thing with them? Were they receptive?

a little info to add to this:

Contact Bose Headquarters as i have and file a complaint: support@bose.com or call them direct 508-766-9522

i've been on tabs with them for a month now and even though their technicians dont hear it the more people that contact them the more they wont treat this as an "isolated" case.

Best of luck to us all and most importantly our sanities!

Modified by k37 at 4:09 AM 1/27/2009

Modified by k37 at 4:09 AM 1/27/2009

Modified by k37 at 4:10 AM 1/27/2009

K37... Called Bose and Infiniti to file a complaint.

FYI if you're calling Bose, you need to call Infiniti Consumer Affairs at 800-662-6200 and get a complaint number generated first.

MM... Infiniti doesn't need to be OK with it. The law varies state by state but in general if your car is in the shop 5 times for the same repair or more than 30 days in your first 2 years of ownership you can get your money back... less usage of course.

I like Infinitis but I'm about ready to go to buy a Lexus so I won't have these issues and I can deal with a company that tries to fix problems if they do occur... or I'll buy a BMW, then I'll know what to expect when it comes to crappy service from corporate and a car that has problems.

Modified by tazdevl at 1:42 PM 1/27/2009

G37 has the same problem.

http://myg37.com/forums/g37-se....html

Thanks for letting us know. For those of you that are extremely sick of Infiniti sitting on its *** and not taking care of its customers like a luxury automaker should, feel free to emai Mark Igo directly. He's the GM of Infiniti USA.

mark.igo@infiniti.com
mark.igo@nissan-usa.com
mark.igo@infinitiusa.com

I sent an email to his office a while ago and got a response from his executive assistant. So one of these is correct. Just send it to all 3.

The squeaky wheel gets the grease and the more people that send him emails and annoy him, the greater the chance that this will either get solved or it becomes very easy for us to get our money back from Infiniti under the lemon law by proving this is a widespread issue.

GoGo37, please post his email address on the forum you linked to and any others you're a member of.

batmobile posts:

I had the same issue, only I heard the high pitch noise everytime I pressed the accelerator. Just a tap and I would hear the noise, i took it to the dealer 6 times ( I do not give up!) and finally had it fixed. It is the bose system that causes the issue, A bose rep came to the dealership and actually replaced all of my speakers (don't know if they are updated or not, but the back ones sound better) and now I do not have that noise. Maybe the speakers they used prior are not as good as the '09 models?"

Naw I'm waiting to hear from Mark Igo's office to see if they're going to do anything for me. Don't hear by Friday, I'm filing under the lemon law. Been in 4 times or more for the issue and I have it documented that they heard it.

There are more reliable cars out there (actually all the problems I've had with my EX it should be a german car) and I have better things to do with my time than troubleshoot an issue that shouldn't be happening. In the end it's just a car.

I also don't want to support a company that takes my cash on the front end and refuses to step up when they're at fault.

I told them to pull the speakers the first time and they refused to do it.

you should forward him the link: http://myg37.com/forums/g37-se...49577

He should know that this is bigger problem.

They should pick the right vendors to use in the car.

He's probably sick of hearing from me.

The noise is high pitched and faint. Even if persistent I don't think I'd be too annoyed by it especially since my radio is nearly always on in the car. But if a comfirmed solution is found, I'd listen for it more, try to replicate it and get mine fixed too if possible. lol

The two "noises" I'm more concerned right now are:
1) A rubbing/grinding/groaning noise is sometimes momentarily heard/felt while making the first turn or two after first starting the car. After a turn or two, it doesn't happen again until turning the engine off for awhile. And it doesn't always happen.. And it seems to be happening less I think, so I'm hoping it's just part of the "break-in" of my new EX, which still has less than 2k miles on it.
2) I notice the engine makes more hot popping noises after turning it off than the other cars I've owned. Even when I stop the car and get out while the engine is idling, I can hear the popping. But while inside the cabin, the popping cannot be heard unless maybe I lower the windows and stop. It's the sound of the hot engine cooling.. but I'm just wondering if it's normal to have this much hot popping noise.. maybe a "breakin" issue too?

I must say, I'm not particularly happy with that response. When I drive without the radio on, the noise really annoys me.

Can I do anything else about this?

Call Infiniti affairs and file a complaint. Phone number is in your owners manual. If they say they haven't heard anything about it, they're lying. EVERYONE be sure you do that.

Mine does it with the radio on or off and can be heard at highway speeds. More noticeable when the car is under load i.e. accelerating or maintaining speed up a gentle grade.

I forgot to mention my radio was replaced as part of the radio preset TSB... sound is still there. So not only have they done nothing to fix the problem, the simplest solution they could have done didn't fix the issue.

Modified by tazdevl at 7:10 PM 3/4/2009

Sorry to hear about your problems ... make sure you document everything that's happened with names, dates, etc, as much as possible. Hopefully, the power of information sharing using NICO and the Internet will triumph in the end!

BTW, didn't someone report that once their Bose speaker was replaced, the noise went away?!?

Cheers,
David

They gave me a loaner EX35 when I had mine in for service and it too was making the ringing noise. So I agree it's probably happening with all of them. I was wondering too whether replacing the speaker (passenger side?) fixed the issue. If so, I'd go get mine replaced. maybe someone should try disconnecting that speaker just to confirm that is indeed where the noise is coming from.

Disconnecting the speaker would seem to be a useful test, if that's easy enough to do.

However, I think it's being reported that this sound occurs whether or not you have the stereo on (at least that was my impression); if so, I wouldn't think the Balance control would impact it.

Just a thought,
David

Disagree completely. Driven some new ones at another dealership. Nary a noise.

Also if you read the link on the G37 forums, about half the people there have the noise.

One thing to note... going through my service records, my dealer made note that the cause of the noise may be the ECM. As others have mentioned as well... radio on/off doesn't make a difference. I've also noticed that it's louder with the headlights on.