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alternator whine?

J

joebmx2

CEG'er
Joined
Jun 6, 2008
Messages
93
Location
cheswick, pa
my car has been making a really annoying whineing noise from around the alternator. im pretty sure its the alternator but before for i rip it off imma try to post a video of it tomorow. i was wondering if anyone can tell me for sure if it is the alternator. the whine rises in pich with higher rpms, the car runs awsome and the alternator works good. just that really annoying whine!
 
you cant diagnose a whine on the internet. if its coming from a pulley, the whine is gonna get louder with rpm regardless of what pulley it is.
 
when my car started to whine, it got louder with the rpms too. It had no noticable performance dif or codes. didnt take long before it started to buck (not long with 500 miles/week) it was the tranny pump for me. :cry:
had to rebuild. hopefully not your problem.
 
jjwb55 said:
when my car started to whine, it got louder with the rpms too. It had no noticable performance dif or codes. didnt take long before it started to buck (not long with 500 miles/week) it was the tranny pump for me. :cry:
had to rebuild. hopefully not your problem.
Click to expand...

considering the fact that he has an SVT, which doesnt have an automatic, I am pretty sure the chances of him having the same problem as you is 0.
 
ok lets back up here. first things first. try removing the accessory drive belt and see if the noise still happens. if it doesn't then you know the noise is from the belt or an accessory. if this is true check each pully for play. then check the belt also. after that if you can't narrow down what pulley is making noise put the belt back on and start listening to see which one its coming from.
 
i have some play in the power steering pulley. i have to do some laundry right now but i should have a video clip up soon. thanks for help thoe.
 
upload the file to photobucket or youtube or something like that.

Anyways, if the PS pulley is loose and you are hearing a whine.... Is your power steering reservoir full? Does the whine change pitch as you are turning your wheels?
 
got a long screwdriver or an extension? you can put them on the tensioner, idler pulley, and i believe the PS pulley. rest one end on the bolt holding the pulley on, and put the other one up to your ear. you will definitely notice which one is bad. you cannot check the alternator with this method. the bolt on the alternator spins with the pulley. if you cannot hear a major difference, chances are, its your alternator
 
Hum.. From the vid you posted it sounds like the noise is coming from the power steering pump. But if you say that the noise is more obvious at the fire wall side of the motor then it could be your alternator. I would say you would have to either crawl under the car or remove the splash shield in the wheel well to get your ear closer to the noise to pin point it.

BUT i have never had a such noise so i am only giving my suggestion. I will have to remove my splash shield to find out just which pulley is squeaking on mine.
 
my power steering pump is good on fluids. i have removed the splash guard and put my ear up to it and i still couldent say for sure it was the alternator. im going to get my car inspected tomorow so ill have my mechanic help me play around with it.
 
How do you know your alternator is working good? Mine seemed fine and still does but it is bad. I first noticed the dimming lights, then a week later the whine, not as lous as yours but the same noise.. Then another week later i noticed when my ABS kicked in the engine would die. The only time it does it is when i have the headlights and V1 on with my blinker on stopping fast in neutral. I know you may ask why would i ever do this so i will give an answer. I live on a busy road and must go fast and stop short so i can slowly pull into my steep driveway without getting clipped:nonono:. Normally no one would ever do this but it is a good test, turn on lights, stereo,blinker toss her in neutral and kick in that ABS see what happens. Its worth a shot, no? I had the luxury of running a data log to be sure and it showed an average of 13.5 to 13.6 volts at IDLE with nothing on. Im very curious as to what you problem is. I suppose i could have a bad pully or tensioner as well as the alt but unless i have terrible luck i think it is related.
 
I had a terrible whine coming from my alternator, about 1k miles later my battery light started coming on in higher rpm's.

Does the whine change at all if you turn the steering wheel?
 
well it is the powersteering pump. my mechanic and I are going to bleed it and use the lucas addative for power steering whine and see how that works.
 
My Zetec had similar problem. And it was the alternator. I did the test BrApple recommended because I wanted to isolate the issue. I removed the belt and the sound(a bit different than yours) went away immediately. So I knew it was not from the timing belt side. I took a guess and removed the alternator. I spinned it fast with a small electric motor and sure enough it was the alternator. It was one of those aftermarket ones that had lifetime warranty. Autoparts store replaced it without a question. But the alternator was working. It wasn't bad. Just the bearing was shot. It is all good since then...
 
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