Growling Noise

[goldcrown61]

I own a 2008 Grand Prix V6 3.8 L. When I first take off when the car is cold and make a hard left turn I hear a growling noise coming from the engine. It is louder when I accelerate and lets up when I decelerate. After about 15 miles or so it seems to dissapate. Not sure how to troubleshoot this. I opened the hood and it sounds like the noise is coming from the alternator. Is there a way I can verify this?

 

[Fivefingerdeathpunch]

maybe your power steering fluid is low.

check you tranny fluid level too.

if the sound stops then i dont think if would the alt. once they go bad they stay bad

 

[cerick08GP]

Hehe :th_laugh-lol3: Welcome to the growl and whine club. GPs and several other GM vehicles are kind of infamous for the power steering noises. The truth is GM has way over built the power steering pumps for years, and yes they are a little noisy but they also generally last forever.

The power steering pump is sort of under the alternator; hence your observation is fairly correct.
On hard turns the added/extra noise you hear is the power steering pump bypass cycling.

I have considered replacing my power steering fluid with a thinner or synthetic version just to find out if it would help reduce the noise. In sort your car seems to be working “normal”, and like you have already noticed after a few miles and a couple hard turns they always smooth out to near silent operation.

 

[JoshsGTP]

Im going to say Power steering.

 

[goldcrown61]

Thank you all for the welcome diagnostics. I will look into this further and keep you updated!

 

[goldcrown61]

I would like to thank all of you who replied to my posting. I checked the power steering fluid in the reservoir and it was not registering on the dipstick. I added about 1/2 pint. Drove the car after it sat for a while and and no more growling noise. I'm not sure what happened to the fluid that was in there because I haven't noticed any fluid spots on the garage floor. But all is well. Once again, thank you all!!