Here's the deal:

The car is an 84 GSL-SE with 55,800 miles on it. Just yesterday afternoon when I was test driving it, a very faint, extended beep sound came on. Yeah, I was getting on the gas, but it doesn't really matter wether I'm turning left or right, the sound comes on after several minutes of driving.

This morning I drove it around again and after about ten minutes the sound came back. It seems to fade and get louder, and then fade again and suddenly shut itself off. I just had my wife drive the car around the neighborhood while I climbed all around the inside of the car trying to find out where it's coming from. Get this, it sounds like it's coming from the hatch/trunk area. Now when this beep is on I'm getting nothing on the dash. No warning lights, etc. Everything seems fine; all the fluids are topped up.

Another odd thing about this beep sound is that after I pulled the car into the garage today while it was going off, I shut off the car and the sound continued for a few seconds!

Does anybody have any idea what's going on here?

 

Could it be the seatbelt buzzer? I know when I bought my '83 it used to go off constantly, or not at all. It would usually stop after I wiggled the larger bundle of wires under the steering column.

I'm not sure what to tell you as far as a permanent fix though. Something fell into place eventually and it has been acting normal ever since.

 

Oscillator, more than likely..it is between the battery and the driver side headlight. It controls the buzzer that is supposed to come on when you are low on oil or coolant. If it gets wet, it can come one when it is not supposed to. Try to unplug it. Even with it unplugged, you will still get the warning light for low coolant/oil, just not the buzzer.

 

HA! I have an 85 GSL-SE and it made this exact sound, like it was coming from the hatch area. I never started a thread because I didn't know how in the world I'd explain it. You did a good job. Mine honestly hasn't come back, I see one of the response had to do w/ water, mine may have started after washing the engine bay, it hasn't happened lately so I think I'm good to go.

So can someone explain in more detail what/where this thing is and perhaps where I can find it in the FSM?

 

Look between the battery and the headlight. It is a black box (looks like a relay) mounted there. It will have "Oscillator" printed on it. In the FSM, probably look in the Meter/Sensor section. Pretty sure it is in there.

 

I have an '84 SE and have driven it for a couple years now, the other day I noticed this exact same noise seemingly coming from the ~passenger rear area at far back of the hatch. It's pretty faint, if I would've had the radio on, I wouldn't have heard it. After reading this thread, I'll unplugthe oscillator as suggested, and see if it happens again, but then again, I've only heard it a couple random times so far...

 

Haha, I have the same problem! But since I know I'm full of fluids etc, I ignore it. It's just faint enough to be annoying!

 

Oscillator. Sometimes they are quiet, sometimes they are intolerable. Especially in the winter and early spring and after you've hosed down your engine bay.

 

OMG, you know what I did Tuesday afternoon? I washed the car for the first time since I got it in December (it's either been too cold or the car has been up on jack stands). And I didn't drive it until Wednesday afternoon after I changed the rear differential fluid.

I just went in the garage and found the oscillator you guys are talking about, so I'll unplug it tomorrow and take the car for a spin. If I clean the contacts and plug it back together do you think the noise will return? I'll try to devise a way to 'water-proof' it so it never happens again.

You guys are geniuses. Thank you so much!

 

If you want to water proof it, just give it a good coating of undercoating (rubberized).

I'm not sure this is an issue related to the oscillator though, so I'll be watching this thread to find out. Every time I've heard of an issue with that, it involved a sound that was like someone shoving an icepick into your eardrums. Not a faint sound at all.

 

I had a very faint buzzing when my "door being open" sensor wasn't working properly. Took me forever to figure out what it was and i ended up just removing the sensor button.

 

sometimes the tank "de pressurizing" will sound like a faint buzzing noise....

it usually happens when there are temp changes.