PLEASE HELP Celica whining noise. Out of ideas

PLEASE HELP Celica whining noise. Out of ideas

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jim5589

Original Poster:

5 posts

165 months

Tuesday 17th February 2015
quotequote all
Please can someone help. i have tried everything to stop this noise and i have run out of ideas. someone must have had the same issue so i am pleading with you to read this and help if you can. thank you.

I bought a 2004 celica vvti 140 last year (My second one of these) and when i bought it i did notice there was a whine coming from the engine bay but it sounded to me like the barings in the alternatior so i wasnt to bothered. the noise is a whine which is at its loudest around 2-3k revs. it doesnt get better or worse when the car is warm or cold, its always the same.

My girlfiend had my old car so i swapped over the alternators to see if that was it and it made no difference. I then inspected further and it sounded like the noise was more from the back of the engine so i bought a reconditioned PAS and swapped that with new fluid etc. that also made no difference. so now i have also replaced the belt, tensioner, water pump with new and swapped the aircon pump from my GF's car. still no difference. If you run the car with the belt off there is no noise!

So my question now is. what else can it be. could the PAS pump i bought also be bad. could it be the crankshaft pully itself making the noise when under load from the belt or is there something else connected to one of the components on the belt that could make this sound when the car is running?



i am at a loss now. any help or ideas would be appreciated



Thanks

andyiley

9,102 posts

151 months

Wednesday 18th February 2015
quotequote all
if you run the car with the belt off & it is quiet, then it MUST be something that the belt turns.

Sometimes the only way to find out exactly what, is to VERY ACCURATELY squirt water onto tensioners/pulleys etc. in turn to see what suddenly runs quiet when sprayed. This only lasts for a few seconds, so you can do it one item at a time until you find the culprit.

jim5589

Original Poster:

5 posts

165 months

Wednesday 18th February 2015
quotequote all
Thanks for the info. that is what i thought it has to be one of the components on the belt. but the noise is not like a slipping belt though. what i would compare it to is the whine you get from a washing machine motor when its wearing out. which is why i originally thought it was the alternator as that's basically a backwards electric motor. it cant be the tensioner or water pump as they are now new. the alternator and aircon pump are from my GF's car so they are known working. so i guess the only unknown is the PAS as i replaced that with a used one that i guess could also be warn out. but before i went and replaced that again i was thinking could there be something else in the steering rack that could make the noise when the oil is pumped round with the pump? i guess i could try and find a shorter belt so i could only run the PAS from the crank on its own to confirm im looking in the right area. would have to be a very short belt though.

andyiley

9,102 posts

151 months

Wednesday 18th February 2015
quotequote all
So try what I said above then, thet will tell you where the noise is coming from if it is a bearing etc.

jim5589

Original Poster:

5 posts

165 months

Thursday 19th February 2015
quotequote all
Thanks for the suggestion. I am going to have a go on the weekend. I have also bought a Mechanics Stethoscope to try and see if that helps pinpoint it . will update later

powerstroke

10,283 posts

159 months

Sunday 22nd February 2015
quotequote all
andyiley said:
if you run the car with the belt off & it is quiet, then it MUST be something that the belt turns.

Sometimes the only way to find out exactly what, is to VERY ACCURATELY squirt water onto tensioners/pulleys etc. in turn to see what suddenly runs quiet when sprayed. This only lasts for a few seconds, so you can do it one item at a time until you find the culprit.
this!! maybe the timing belt too tight or a idler pulley or water pump otherwise???

deacon78140

3 posts

85 months

Thursday 9th February 2017
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Hello

I'm french.
I have the same car as jim5589 (Celica VVTI 140 6-speed manual).

I have exacty the same problem.

Like jim5589 did, I have replaced all the elements drived by the v-belt (Power steering pump/new fluid, water pump, alternator, belt tensioner).

I still have the same noise as before, like jim5589.

Please jim5589, if your problem is now fixed, could you please tell us what was wrong ?

Thanks

jim5589

Original Poster:

5 posts

165 months

Thursday 9th February 2017
quotequote all
It was definitely the power steering pump I concluded. So maybe the one a replaced it with also was noisy as it was a reconditioned unit. I found out what it was by using a mechanic's stethoscope which was really handy to have. I gave up in the end and sold the car

deacon78140

3 posts

85 months

Thursday 9th February 2017
quotequote all
Hello jim5589

You replaced the power steering pump one more time, and then the noise disappeared ?

Or did you just put the stethoscope and conclude it should be the Power Steering Pump ?

jim5589

Original Poster:

5 posts

165 months

Thursday 9th February 2017
quotequote all
I didn't change it again as I had got fed up with the whole thing at that point and just put up with it. Using the stethoscope it was clear to me it was the steering pump causing the noise. So the solution would have been swap it for another used one which could also be noisy and so waste my time again or buy a new one which was hundreds of pounds which I didn't want to do.

deacon78140

3 posts

85 months

Tuesday 19th September 2017
quotequote all
Hello

I have solved the problem, but not by solding my car wink

When this kind of whining sound appears, you have to perform a test :
You remove the v-belt from the car and you start the engine for a few seconds. You must stop the engine quickly (less than 60 seconds) because the alternator being disconnected, the battery is not charging and the water pump being disconnected, the engine is not cooled anymore.

- If the whining sound is still there, then you have to change your timing chain and all the parts included in this timing chain kit :
SKF VKML 91000 Timing chain kit
Yes, a timing chain isn't for life. Like on a motorbike, the chain have to be changed.
For a car, I would say every 10 years/100 000 km.

- If the whining sound is not here anymore, then the engine isn't the source of the noise.
So the noise comes from one of the pulleys driven by the v-belt (alternator, water pump, air conditionner, steering pump, belt tensioner).
The crankshaft pulley doesn't make a whining sound when the bearings are worn, it makes a "clac-clac-clac-clac-clac" sound.

In my case it was the timing chain which was too stretched, but sometimes it can also come from worn timing chain.

Here is a video I made :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1KIO5eGMU0