Since CarTalk isn’t a thing anymore I’m going to the next group I think can help…

My daughter has been telling me about a noise her 2005 Corolla makes intermittently for the past year and a half but it's never made the sound while I've been in the car... Until yesterday... I finally got a chance to hear it in person. At 107K this car is and has been mechanically sound. I'm sure it’s more of an annoyance than a mechanical issue, but I’d still like to figure out the cause and resolve it. I expect this will take some time, trial and error given that she’s 3 hours away from here most of the time.

Here’s what I can tell you about the noise:
1) The noise only happens at highway speeds and can occur at any speed between 60 and 80 and only happens when there’s a fairly decent cross-wind (more than 10mph).

2) The noise does not vary in pitch very much if at all based on speed or if the brakes are applied, but simply goes away if you slow down below some threshold (that threshold changes and I assume it’s related to how strong and what direction the wind is blowing).

3) When I was a young pup I used to place a blade of grass between my thumbs and blow – the sound of that blade of grass vibrating is very similar to the sound that this car makes.

4) She, as the driver, thought it was coming from the lower right front.

5) I, as a passenger, thought it was coming from just in front of the dashboard… I think there’s a rubber gasket that the hood meets near the windshield, but I’ve not had time to inspect in detail since she had to leave this morning to go back to her location.

6) The car does have a sunroof, but it didn’t sound like it was coming from that high.

As of now, she’s simply turning the radio up, but just knowing that it makes this sound is going to drive me nuts.

Has anyone heard a noise like that and located the root cause?

If so, what did you do to locate the issue and fix it?

Car talk is stilled aired in reruns. Miss those fellas. They were great diagnosing car noises. Check the left front fender liner for rigidity or a crack or if it’s loose...

If it's related to a cross wind and speed range I'd look at all the weatherstrip around the doors and windows first.
Has the car ever had a windshield or rear window replacement? Look at any metal trim strips around the glass.

Any chance the Corolla is the S model (with the body kit)? A friend has one and says the front skirt can play havoc in the wind (make noise; make the front end light, etc.).

Thanks for the suggestions so far.

I forgot to mention that I rolled down the window(s) a little and I think the noise was still there.

Not sure if the windshield has ever been replaced, but was going to look at the gasket around it the next time I had time.

quote:

Originally posted by muddle_mann:
Any chance the Corolla is the S model (with the body kit)? A friend has one and says the front skirt can play havoc in the wind (make noise; make the front end light, etc.).

It is an S model.

I'll have to take a closer look at that.

Put a piece of packing tape on suspected areas like side mirrors, trim ect..till noise is gone then fix the issues.

Rubber trim/weatherstripping around windshield is my first guess. Tell her the next time she hears it to put her hand against the windshield and apply pressure--see if that reduces the noise.

Next guess is the plastic molding that covers the windshield wiper motors/etc., depending on the car. Most have some plastic trim covering the gap between the hood and the windshield.

Also check the plastic trim inside the fender wells-usually held on only by push clips. And any other trim around the front end of the car-fascia, etc.

This is a good idea...should help narrow down the source of the noise.

quote:

Originally posted by Greymann:
Put a piece of packing tape on suspected areas like side mirrors, trim ect..till noise is gone then fix the issues.

I had a volvo 850. The trim was black, and the blankness wasn't paint, rather it was a thick coating over the stainless trip pieces. At some point as the car aged, the black covering on the windshield trip split and lifted just a bit from the underlying metal. At certain speeds, with certain cross wind, I got a buzzing sound just like you describe with the blade of grass between your fingers.

It took me a while to find it, and I was grateful when I did, because I thought it was a bearing going bad.

if the tires are worn they can make a lot of noise as speed rises

I had a 2010 F250 that would make a sound like a harmonica when driven in a quartering crosswind at highway speed. It was the plastic vent grillwork at the back of the hood and bottom of windshield. A couple of additional screws stopped the vibration.

I doubt that a 2005 model auto has a windshield gasket. All of them I am aware of used a glued in windshield by that time.

Inner fender, bumper cover garnish or under-engine cover flapping in the wind. Check around the oil drain plug, I have seen oil get where it's not supposed to go, a tech (grease monkey actually) pulls the plastic down to drain & doesn't get it secured well (likely because the push-lock broke). Doesn't make noise at low speed, but get it moving & it will flop around.

quote:

Originally posted by Clem Eastwood:
if the tires are worn they can make a lot of noise as speed rises

I had this issue on my RSX as the tires got close to the wear marks. Tire hum. It was speed specific and intermittent, but was easy to tell it was coming from the tires...

If it has one. Remove the antenna.

AS some have already said, I had that problem with a flapping (can't remember which) fender liner or lower aero engine cover. It only happened when I hit about 75 or 80.

If she has ran over anything like my son did hitting a concrete parking curb, it may have some damage to that fiber shield under the motor.

Check the metal trim around the windshield (if it has it)...I had almost the same annoying noise under the same circumstances on a Mercury Villager and I found a post on a Mercury Villager website (yes there was such a thing )...and the fix was to use liquid silicon (I had no idea it existed) to fill in between the trim and the rubber. It's runny stuff (the smaller tip lets you direct it better to fill any gaps) but it eliminated the annoying noise...it disrupts the airflow of the "blade of grass between your thumb" effect.

Turn it up to eleven.

I had that once and it turned out the front passenger side door gasket in one spot wasn’t getting compressed enough to make a good seal when the door was closed. Sounded just like the what you described and only made it with windows up. Try pulling the door tightly closed when you hear the sound. That’s how I tracked it down.

Is our anything like my leaky windshield gasket?

https://youtu.be/LQ2UIfMRmF4

Maybe check if there isn't a plastic shopping bag stuck under the front bumper/under carriage.