whining noise engine

[towelie]

Right well, started to get a whinning noise from one of the pulleys, sounds like its coming from the crank pulley.. The alternator belt feels a bit too tight.. so not sure whether the crank pully bearings may have gone?

it looks slightly wobbly aswell, it is a long nose crank engine though..

is the car ok to drive it some where or am i risking a major problem?

[_Batty_]

non interference engine, so if the cambelt goes it doesn't matter.
Just a pain if you havn't got AA cover etc...

[towelie]

_Batty_ said:

non interference engine, so if the cambelt goes it doesn't matter.
Just a pain if you havn't got AA cover etc...

yer got rac, but gotta drive home on friday (leeds to wirral), update took the alternator belt off all the pulleys seemed fine, so makes me think there is something up with the cambelt. when i put my ear to the front of the rocker cover, the sound is louder, not sure if this points to anything apart from sound travelling more easily through solids lol

[Mazdamender]

Could be the water pump on it's way out?or the bearings in the idler or tensioner wheels?,hard to guess without seeing her?
M-m

[snotrag]

I had this last year, when a <12 month old tensioner bearing failed. The noise was horrendous, sounded like it could be something really nasty. I tracked it down by using a 'listening stick' against various parts of the engine. Just using your ears is very hard to work out where the noise comes from, try a solid implement (a 1/2" extension bar out of your socket set works well) held between your ear and the culprit (like a stethoscope).

Theres a bit of the water pump casing you can see on the exhaust side of the engine, try there. If it seems to be coming from there it could be the same thing, or the water pump itself (which also screech when they wear out).

To be fair to them - MX5parts sent me out a replacement when asked.

[Richyvrlimited]

towelie said:

Right well, started to get a whinning noise from one of the pulleys, sounds like its coming from the crank pulley.. The alternator belt feels a bit too tight.. so not sure whether the crank pully bearings may have gone?

There are no bearings on the crank pully, it's affixed tightly to the crank. That does have bearings, but if they've gone you wouldn't be complaining about a whining...

Check tension of the belts, you should be able to just twist the belt 90deg on it's longest run, or B Flat when plucked. If spraying a bit of water on the belt temporaraly shuts it up and tension is correct you need a new accessory belt.

I've a feeling you're hearing the waterpump bearings however. The waterpump is driven by the pulley above the crank pulley and it may well sound like it's coming from somewhere else. Try removing the alternator belt (which also drives the WP), and spinning the WP by hand, it should be smooth.