On the way back from a trip to Bear Mountain, a slew of errors occurred - the unhelpful Electric System Malfunction, followed by a flat tire warning. I immediately stopped by the side of the highway to check the car down. Nothing was obvious, and a restart yielded All Systems OK. Thanks to this site, I found a few hits that suggested my battery, which is nearing 8 years of service, may be getting weak especially since I was running gps, xenons, air conditioning, and fogs simultaneously. I'll follow up on this via my local repair shop soon.

However, when I arrived home I heard an incredibly loud pitched whirring / whining noise coming from the rear of the car which I heard on and off during the trip. This is unrelated to power - it seems to start whenever I go over a bump, and may go away after a while. If I were to push upwards on the rear muffler, this successfully stifles the whining noise. Can anyone suggest the source of this issue?

Thanks,
Peachy

 

Just went to an independent mechanic - the whining fix was ridiculously simple. The problem was that somehow the heatshield surrounding the rear muffler (a moving part) was pressing against it, resulting in a rhythmic shimmying whenever the muffler vibrates enough. A quick yank with a screw driver restored the gap between the two, and I was not charged for this. He showed me how easy it was to cause this to happen by simply pressing on the side of the rear bumper. The bumper sprang back to its original shape, which can hide this issue.

In regards to my post about the Electric System Malfunction message, the mechanic thinks the issue is w/ my alternator not charging my battery strongly enough.

-Mark