My 2015 Auris TS has developed a new 'feature', which is causing me a little concern. It's an occasional rattle or vibration sound as if something is wobbling about, seemingly underneath the car and possibly more on the passenger side, although it's hard to be sure.
I do an 8-ish mile return journey twice a day and for whatever reason, the noise usually crops up on the way back, not at precisely the same point within the journey, but usually at some point within a particular half mile stretch. Most commonly just after a slight dog-leg bend, although sometimes on a straight (with slight ascent) that comes just before the bend. I mention this because it's not obvious what provokes it; it has (perhaps unsurprisingly) occurred over speed humps a couple of times, but not consistently. It doesn't happen for most of the journey, just once or twice although sometimes not at all.
I'm reasonably sure it's affected to some extent by temperature, as we've had a couple of very frosty mornings just recently and it has sounded worse. I'm attaching a couple of audio files - Example A is from a recent mild day and Example B is from this morning when it was very cold - you should hear the noise just a couple of seconds or so into the recording (might need to turn Speakers up a bit).
I did wonder if someone might have made an aborted attempt to steal the cat, given the prevalence of such thefts, but there's a Catloc fitted and that seems secure, as does the exhaust from what I can tell. There's nothing else obviously awry, from having had just a quick squiz under the car, but of course there's a lot of plastic lining under there so can't really see everything.
And as if that's not enough, another noise joined it this afternoon. It's a sort of high-pitched whistle, a little bit like you might hear from brakes but not exactly the same, and it doesn't occur on braking. I had it sporadically for a while some time ago (last year I think) and then it stopped, but has just returned for no obvious reason. This one seems to occur most commonly just as I'm reaching home, sometimes soon after turning although that may be coincidence. I haven't managed to capture a recording of this one just yet.
I'm guessing a trip to the dealership is inevitable, but thought it worth asking on here first in case anyone has an idea what might be happening. Also, now that the car is out of warranty, I'm wondering what costs I could face for getting it looked into - is a dealership likely to investigate and then just charge if something needs fixing, or is there an hourly rate or something for a technician to spend time investigating?
Thoughts/advice welcome... thanks in advance.