Does not make much sense to me. Why the starter should make a whine. I think he took you for a ride!!!!
Good morning, I bought my Traverse last week, and have the exact same issue. It's random, but I especially hear it when I start the car for a few minutes. It's like a high pitched tone, but goes away in a few minutes. I told my sales guy about it yesterday and he said to bring it in... Already had to bring it in for a check engine light over the weekend with less than 100 total miles on the thing. Honestly I'm not super excited about this deal right now. Seems like this car is lacking quality.
No, this noise (whine or high freq. noise) is not generated when I first start and drive the car. It is generated while driving, randomly and repeatedly, and is most notable right before stopping. This noise is then gone when the car has completely stopped.
I visited dealer's service center today to fix this problem.
A service representative was already well aware of this problem.
He said that several traverse owner's visited due to this problem, and "It's normal".
For just in case, I test-drove with technician and confirmed this noise.
However, service representative and technician all said that it comes from starter and it is normal.
For my complain about how this can be normal, They said that "That is GM quality".
OK, I am not gonna buy any GM cars on the future if it is GM quality.
Just ridiculous.
With further info looks like we're zeroing in on this whine and apparently has nothing to do with poor quality or a defect. Since we are talking about an '18 with start stop apparently it is normal and the dealer is correct. Actually a remarkable improvement to to s/s technology in the new GM systems. And here is an applicable reference to read:
http://sandyblogs.com/techlink/?p=8493
Relevant portion being:
Auto Stop Operation
When the vehicle is coming to a stop,
just before the engine stops rotating (at approximately 50 RPM) during stop/start operation, the ECM energizes the Starter Pinion Solenoid Actuator Relay to easily push the pinion gear into the flywheel gear without gear clash. (Fig. 8) When the engine stops rotating during Stop/Start operation (Auto Stop mode), the starter pinion gear is fully engaged, ready for the starter motor to become energized to quickly start the engine again.
So it appears that the "whine" is normal and caused by the gears in the starter meshed with the flywheel by the front half of the split solenoid in the starter motor at engine speed of 50 rpm and below when is engages in preparation for an auto stop.
Turned off my always-on audio system drive to carefully listen at an auto stop cycle. And yes, one does a very low gear whine.....and I've heard a lot of whining tranny gears or fluid pump whines in my day, but this amount of noise is so little it is not even worth whining about!
I've come a long way from my first '53 Chevy 210 BelAir with 3 on-the-tree non synchro tranny, no power steering, brakes, window, A/C only options being a tube radio and single vent heater so by comparison can fully appreciate the level of excellence, convenience and options in the Traverse and similar level competitive rides. If the current generation of new Traverse owners were to drive, or attempt to drive, a '53 Chevy for five minutes or five miles the administrator would need another server to handle the all complaint posts.
