Alfa 156 V6 whistle noise over 2000rpm

[zolk]

I have a Alfa 156, love it..... It has developed a strange noise from Cam side of engine, At tick over nothing sounds sweet, start driving, the noise starts from 2000 revs upwards, (Not gone over 3000 rpm).
Multiple garages have looked and will charge me from 600 to 1200 pounds to resolve, some have said its the CAM belt, others a bearing on the tensioner, and one said it sounds like belt is too tight. Car is currently 62000 miles, Cam belt changed at 57000. Has anyone had this noise before.... It sounds like when you whip a ariel through the air, the cutting of wind noise.
Please help, I am scared of driving incase something breaks and reluctant to take to a garage to have belt ALL tensioners and bearing changed if it is a tight belt.
Any alfa guru's out there

[Mon Ami Mate]

zolk said:

I have a Alfa 156, love it..... It has developed a strange noise from Cam side of engine, At tick over nothing sounds sweet, start driving, the noise starts from 2000 revs upwards, (Not gone over 3000 rpm).
Multiple garages have looked and will charge me from 600 to 1200 pounds to resolve, some have said its the CAM belt, others a bearing on the tensioner, and one said it sounds like belt is too tight. Car is currently 62000 miles, Cam belt changed at 57000. Has anyone had this noise before.... It sounds like when you whip a ariel through the air, the cutting of wind noise.
Please help, I am scared of driving incase something breaks and reluctant to take to a garage to have belt ALL tensioners and bearing changed if it is a tight belt.
Any alfa guru's out there

Have you looked at the fanbelt? Mine suddenly frayed at about 70k miles and made almost exactly the sorts of noises you describe.

[wildoliver]

have you fitted a new exhaust manifold?

The aftermarket manifolds for the 2.0 whistle.

[zolk]

Thank you for your replies and Input,, There has been no work / changes in the past 6 months, the noise does sound from that area. will changing the fan belt have any affect on the cam, ie: will then need to touch it, is the cost of fan belt a lot cheaper than the tensioners including labour.
Any other ideas, suggestions welcome

[Avocet]

Does it change with / without the aircon / headlights / heated rear screen etc on or off? Does it change as you rock the steering from side to side? IF so, could be the ancillary drive belt or one of the pulleys / tensioners it goes round.

[zolk]

Thank Avocet...
The noise does not happen with any involvement with electrics, nothing when steering is rocked.. The faster the engine goes (Revs) the louder and more high pitch it gets.

[twin sparky]

Could it be the bearings going in one of the ancillarys??

[_Batty_]

i recon it sounds like a cambelt tensioner
have the car inspected (only the cost of one hours labour)
My cambelt had half of it worn away after a tensioner failed after 11,000 miles.
better safe than sorry

Matt

[TEOID]

I have the same problem with my 156 2.0 JTS. Anything over 2000 and it sounds a bit like a grass strimmer in the distance, the sound of something thin going fast through the air.

[zolk]

Finally got round to having a look, I refused to pay the garages in my area the crazy prices they wanted to have a look.
A friend and I started with the auxil belt, took that off and the noise has gone away, the belt def needs changing, we shall put new one on monday and check if the noise is still about, if it is we are looking at the plastic guide pulleys. Simple investigation has saved me about £600 so far.

Thank you for you replies, hope this can be of help to others, will update post later.