Engine Bay Whine

Dous

Dous

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Okay so I have had this whining sound in the engine bay for about the past 5 months, it developed on a wheeling trip. The whine varies with engine RPM so my first guess was one of the pumps in the engine bay. It has been going on for a while so I figure its not too serious, but the noise is fairly noticeable, and it has been getting slightly louder the past few days. I am thinking, what ever it is, its about to Sh#t the bed. I will try and upload a video later, its the 2.7 liter. Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks all
 
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Engine bay sounds

Here are some vague sound descriptions off the top of my head...

Power Steering = "whining" sound
Alternator = "whistling" sound
A/C Idler pulley = "squealing metal" sound

Good luck with your search!
 
A.Wilson013 said:
Supercharger. Has to be :-)
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Haha thats what my friends keep saying, I get the sound, but wheres the power!?!?!?

Could the water pump missing a vane or something cause the whining?

Nate, my first thought was power steering pump too, but its not the normal whine I hear from other cars, at an idle at full lock it makes no more noise, and steering seems normal.
 
I've been chasing a similar noise for a couple of years now. Mine is present with all drive belts removed. I have gone as far as replacing timing belt, tensioners and water pump. The noise is still present. However, mine is a 3.4l and I have heard others with the same noise with as few as 50k miles.
 
I have the same noise, mines a 3.4. however mine only showed up after I put my muffler on. Im guessing it has something to do with rattling at a frequency depending on the rpm's I am at. Not too sure though.
 
Dous said:
Did you narrow it dowwn to which one fixed the whine? Thanks!
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Both were bad, I replaced the pump first and that took care the whine at higher RPMs but it still sounded like crap when idling, replacing the idler pully fixed that.

edit: Another hint that my PS pump was going was that when I would cut the wheel all the way to the left or right would cause the belt to scream.
 
ironhippy said:
Both were bad, I replaced the pump first and that took care the whine at higher RPMs but it still sounded like crap when idling, replacing the idler pully fixed that.

edit: Another hint that my PS pump was going was that when I would cut the wheel all the way to the left or right would cause the belt to scream.
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Hmm on mine it makes no difference which way I turn, the sound is only variable with RPMs. Maybe its just the idler pulley?
 
Mine is doing the same thing....tracked it to the Alternator....the bearings or something most likely....mine started doing it after a wheeling trip too......
 
Same here...I have had a whine in my engine bay that seems to only be noticable from inside the car and at idle around ~500-800 rpm. I have used a stethescope and it appears to be coming from the altenator. My peddles even have a slight vibration in sync with the humming noise. The noise and vibration seem to disappear at ~1000-1500 and higher RPM's.

I took it to the dealer to get it checked out when I had the oil changed last (I did not want to get my dress dirty from changing the oil....:flipoff:...beat ya to it). I normally do all my own maintenance items but I had a good cupon and I also wanted to get the noise checked out.

Back on track...The tech seemed to think it was coming from the speedometer or from the gauge cluster. Oh well its another thought for a possible source for the noise at least.

At 217048 miles I guess it has to have some mysterious noises to keep it interesting...:nicethread:
 
I had the same issue and it turned out to be the alternator. It made a loud whinning noise for about 3 years. I finally got tired of hearing it and replaced my alternator a few months ago.
 
dave_mcmillan said:
Back on track...The tech seemed to think it was coming from the speedometer or from the gauge cluster. Oh well its another thought for a possible source for the noise at least.

At 217048 miles I guess it has to have some mysterious noises to keep it interesting...:nicethread:
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I thought our speedos were hitched electronically to the speed sensor on the rear axle, no mechanical cable to whine. This would have been a good call on a 1985 BMW--it happened on mine at 220k or so. I guess you could try pulling the GAUGE fuse, that would pretty much kill the cluster except for a few idiot lights. Electronic whines exist, but they sound quite different from mechanical ones.
 
Durk...thats more than likely true just don't know how they are connected. It did not seem to make much sense to me given the vehicle was at a stand still to be the speedometer....continuing the hunt will most likely replace the altenator since its original 1998 anyways...will update how that goes.
 
dave_mcmillan said:
Durk...thats more than likely true just don't know how they are connected. It did not seem to make much sense to me given the vehicle was at a stand still to be the speedometer....continuing the hunt will most likely replace the altenator since its original 1998 anyways...will update how that goes.
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Wow, careful. I would not replace a 1998 factory Denso with anything aftermarket and call it an upgrade. Just take off all the drive belts, one at a time, to see if one of the accessories is causing the problem. If its the alt, I suggest you find someone who can rebuild rather than a cheap reman. The 'let's swap the alt' suggestion would piss me off if someone said it to me.
 
Mr. Leary said:
Sounds like a vacuum cleaner.

Have you replaced the idler pulley yet?
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I have not, it dosent sound like its coming from that area. I am starting to think its the bearings in the alternator. It happened after I drove through some mud and really dusty roads
 
Dous said:
I have not, it dosent sound like its coming from that area. I am starting to think its the bearings in the alternator. It happened after I drove through some mud and really dusty roads
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You are probably right. It DOES sound like some sort of bearing. Do you own a mechanic's stethescope?
 
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