Roof rack cross bars?

 

That would be my guess as well if equipped with the crossbars.

If you do have the crossbars installed, try either loosening them and sliding the front one further back or take them both off untill you need them. Fairly common occurence on the Foresters. You'll need to experiment with this by driving around and see if it still does it.

And if no crossbars are installed then hopefully someone else may have some suggestions.

 

Thanks. It doesn't have cross bars just factory installed roof rack

 

I also have a whistling sound on
My 2018 cross trece that sounds like is coming from the back. I raised the volume in the radio but it is annoying. I
Don’t have crossbars.

 

^^ That helps rule those out.

Are you able to isolate the sound? Maybe take another person along for a drive and have them sit in the front and the back and see if they come up with the area of origin that you are experiencing the noise (they're able to move around a bit more than an attentive driver). Tough for anyone to come up with a descriptive reference to the noise you are hearing. Subarus have often had heat shield rattles that might be similar to the sound you are hearing. It is a resonance that comes and goes often between certain speeds and I have heard many varying descriptive references to what it sounds like. Foresters were notorious for this. If you are also willing to try the following, I'm going to suggest find a service road or secondary road that you may be able to have your passenger open the door when you hear the "horn" and see if they can isolate where it is coming from (safely).

Also it may help to indicate as a Signature what model and transmission you have. You can add this by going into your Settings (upper right hand, in Site Navigation) Edit Signature and add the basics that will help not only now but in the future, year/model-trim/transmission is all that is necessary. You can also Edit Profile there and add a location that also helps especially when it comes to local resources. Don't forget to Save Your Changes.

And as a final challenge for you, if your model has the CVT and paddle shifters you may try and remember what gear you might be in when the noise occurs, but as you mentioned it will likely be speed oriented, but every little bit helps.

Let us know.

Cheers
Doug

 

Did you end up finding the sound?

 

Can you record the problem noise with your phone or camera and post a link to it here?

 

My friend has a bad seal on his windshield and it makes that noise. He wont fix it, it's annoying!!!

 

I too have a wind noise emanating from the lower windshield. My suspicion is that it comes from under the hood, where the glass seems to meet the hood. I characterize this sound as a cracking or sand from a truck hitting the car, where no truck is to be seen. The sound is audible at speeds in excess of 60 mph and it "helps" to be driving into a headwind. Naturally, when I went out with the tech I couldn't duplicate the sound so we parted ways. Anyone else have this experience?

 

This is an update to my previous post (1-14-13) regarding a crackling or sand noise. I just received a call from the dealer telling me they heard the sound (whew!). They found a loose heat/sound (ironic) shield under the hood they reattached and it seems to have corrected the problem. I'll pick the car up later today to verify.

 

Mine was doing something similar and I believe it's the heat shield covering the injectors/fuel rails. If you tap it with your finger and it buzzes or rings if it's not even seated enough on the top side to touch anything, then that's the problem. I cut a bit of aluminum from a can, folded it up and tucked it into the spot where the shield seats into the intake manifold. That'll work until I can get to the dealer. Our Leggy has the same set up but never had this issue.

 

Thanks, BigC. If you could post a picture of your fix, I'd love to see it. I picked the car up but the sound was still audible on the highway. I was, to say the least, very disappointed. My solution to this was the time tested method of turning the radio on louder. That's working for now. But, I'm not clear regarding your method so a picture would help.
BTW, I'm very disappointed with my dealer. When I went to pick the car up, no one was around who could tell or show me what they did so I took their word for it being fixed and drove away. I have to go back to see if I can get a "face-to-face" explanation. Not the worst thing in the world but an annoyance just the same.

 

Victor Tango, I'll try and snap some pics this weekend of where the noise I heard is coming from. Is the noise your hearing between those speeds constant or does it happen just under acceleration? When I heard mine the first time it was under hard acceleration. It didn't do it all the time either. Maybe the dealer addressed an issue that most likely is fairly common with the XV/Impreza and didn't really take the time to see if it was something else...

Sorry your frustrated with your dealer. I lost faith in mine the last time I took our Leggy in for service so I can relate...

Edit: You might scan through this thread on NASIOC and see if it helps: http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2354376

 

BigC, thanks for taking the time with this. I do appreciate it.
The noise develops when I'm at higher speeds (over 50 mph) and heading into the wind. Because these two factors are involved, the speed of the car and the speed of the wind determine the intensity of the sound. I believe something is "flapping" under the hood but due to the recent cold spell, I haven't checked it myself. I'm kind of wimpy that way.
I was reluctant to purchase my car from this particular dealer in the first place due to my history with it but that's another story for another time. Perhaps we can start a thread rating our experiences with our dealerships? In any case, this dealer advertises that it's the largest in sales, but I find it just missing the mark in customer service after the sales. Others may not agree.

 

Victor Tango, I snapped a pic of where I think your dealer tried to exact a fix:

If you chose to follow up with them, it might be interesting to see if that's indeed where they were thinking it was coming from. There's a shield on both sides and there are two tabs on each side that tie into the intake manifold. I don't think what your hearing would be a heat shield though. They would resonate under specific conditions based on RPM's. There are some plastic bits in the bottom corners of the windshield that look suspect to me. I've shored mine up with some adhesive backed foam. The kind they sell at Lowe's to seal doors and windows which comes in a roll for like $2. I don't get on the highway that much but we do have an trip out of town coming up so I'll know shortly whether that tweak helped or not. I too have intermittent noise at highway speeds coming from the lower right front of the windshield. Kind of depends on whether I'm heading into the wind (worse) or getting chased by it.

 

Thanks for the pic and advice. I'll look into it. For now, my "fix" is the time-tested turning the radio on louder.

 

I took mine out on the highway today and could not reproduce the sound I was hearing. It was scary warm for Kansas in January at 73 today so I don't know if that had anything to do with it or not. There was a significant head wind (~25mph) which was the condition when the sound was most easy to reproduce. The pic's I took are from the drivers side but I applied the foam tape fix to both sides:

Zoomed out for reference

That fix is mentioned in the NASIOC thread I posted earlier but I had missed it the first time I went through it, lol. Specifically it's post #99 here: http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2354376&page=4

While I was poking around looking for places where noise might come from I also did these things needed or not, lol:

Aluminum tape around hood support as it was moving around in it's stay:

Intake snorkus seemed loose so I put some additional washers in. This may not be necessary at all since the hood should press down on it when closed:

In addition to the washers seeming loose, I noticed I could jossle around the snorkus where it meets the airbox and make noise so I added some foam there too: