Whining noise from engine bay

[mouseymousey]

Morning all

I'm after some advice if anyone can help. My car has developed a whining noise coming from somewhere in the engine bay. It's almost an electrical type whine and it increases as I rev the engine. After listening to it for a while I was convinced it was the alternator, so convinced I bought and fitted a new one.

Needless to say it wasn't the alternator and the noise is still there. The strange thing is I think the noise has decreased slightly having changed the alternator. So now I'm thinking it could be related to the fan belt pulleys or something that I've fiddled with during the change.

Any ideas?

Cheers,
Matt.

[nicktowe]

I have a noise from the engine that I would describe in the same way. I came to the conclusion that it was from the drive belt, but I could easily be wrong.

[thegman]

supercharger?

[That Daddy]

Remove the drivebelt and run the engine(1 min max)and see if it shuts up

[nicktowe]

That Daddy said:

Remove the drivebelt and run the engine(1 min max)and see if it shuts up

Invest in a battery charger first

[im]

thegman said:

supercharger?

Damn...beaten to it...

[That Daddy]

nicktowe said:

That Daddy said:

Remove the drivebelt and run the engine(1 min max)and see if it shuts up

Invest in a battery charger first

why?

[mouseymousey]

Well I don't think the supercharger fairies have been, so I'll try the suggestion of running the engine without the drive belt attached and see if the noise is still there.

I'll report back on Friday after I've tried it.

Cheers guys.

[davetherave1970]

I also had this noise. It got worse with each extra electrical item I switched on. I put it down to the alternator "moaning" under load. I had some other electrical problems that I sorted by cleaning bad earths and the noise is now gone!
Maybe the bad earth's was putting an extra heavy load on the alternator????

Possible? It may be my imagination

[Ribol]

That Daddy said:

nicktowe said:

That Daddy said:

Remove the drivebelt and run the engine(1 min max)and see if it shuts up

Invest in a battery charger first

why?

In case he has a flat battery when he comes back from a long holiday - obviously.

I thought you knew about cars

[Ribol]

If we are going to guess then the belt tensioner bearing would be high up on my list.

Try chucking some water on the belt whilst it is running and see if the noise changes at all.

[spend]

You guys are effin useless! It's obvious he is smarter than you lot and has become accustomed to sticking the missus under the bonnet!

Its a costly fix, but divorce may be the cheapest remedy?

Dave
are we still allowed to have a laugh under the new TCs

[mouseymousey]

Ribol said:

If we are going to guess then the belt tensioner bearing would be high up on my list.

Try chucking some water on the belt whilst it is running and see if the noise changes at all.

Is this an April 1st joke or should I really try it? If the noise changes, what might that indicate?

[spend]

mouseymousey said:

Ribol said:

If we are going to guess then the belt tensioner bearing would be high up on my list.

Try chucking some water on the belt whilst it is running and see if the noise changes at all.

Is this an April 1st joke or should I really try it? If the noise changes, what might that indicate?

No water or chalk 'lubricate' the belt.

If you have spare, swap them, if not buy a new one - you really should keep a spare in the boot anyway. It's a very sensible suggestion as many of us will assume that you have tried these things first..

Dave

[That Daddy]

Ribol said:

That Daddy said:

nicktowe said:

That Daddy said:

Remove the drivebelt and run the engine(1 min max)and see if it shuts up

Invest in a battery charger first

why?

In case he has a flat battery when he comes back from a long holiday - obviously.

I thought you knew about cars

I was referring to the noisenot his hols

[mouseymousey]

The car had a 12k service about 600 miles ago so I'm guessing the belt should be ok. I'll try it anyway.

To avoid any further confusion with what people might assume I've done, I've changed the alternator and that's it.

[Ribol]

mouseymousey said:

Ribol said:

If we are going to guess then the belt tensioner bearing would be high up on my list.

Try chucking some water on the belt whilst it is running and see if the noise changes at all.

Is this an April 1st joke or should I really try it? If the noise changes, what might that indicate?

It's now the 2nd and my advice remains the same

If you chuck water on the belt and the noise goes even if only for seconds it will show it is a belt noise rather than bearings etc. It is also very quick/cheap to try.

Failing that, do what TD suggested in his first post which is another way of taking the belt out of the equation.

Did the noise start as a result of having the service, or was it there before and after?

[mouseymousey]

Cheers Ribol, will give it a try.

The noise wasn't present before the service, nor was it there for about 550 miles after the service. I started the car up, drove 50 miles home and then when I next started the car a couple of weeks later the noise was the there.

[nicktowe]

That Daddy said:

nicktowe said:

That Daddy said:

Remove the drivebelt and run the engine(1 min max)and see if it shuts up

Invest in a battery charger first

why?

Because it was 1st April and i have an odd sense of humour. Sorry.

I was going to say, that i have a whining noise, but it normally turns out the Mrs has found the bill for the last lot of work on the car.

[snorky]

mouseymousey said:

The car had a 12k service about 600 miles ago so I'm guessing the belt should be ok. I'll try it anyway.

To avoid any further confusion with what people might assume I've done, I've changed the alternator and that's it.

Don't assume, I had the car come back from service with the belt path wrong and it made a horrible squeeling noise...had to look at pics in the bible to sort it out and change it back to normal routing...