Hello,

I recently did an oil change and post oil-change I started to hear a whine from the engine bay. I assumed it was my alternator because there were multiple signs that gave me indications that the alternator was not performing as it should be (if I utilized AC, the car would try to shut off, and while running the car would only have 12V on the battery instead of the 13-14 it should be). I ordered myself a new alternator and gates accessory belt (huge thanks to Connor at STM for the fast shipment!), and today I replaced it...very tedious and a lot of cursing and screaming, but eventually got it done. I start the car, and the whine still persists. The alternator is running perfectly though, and electrical wise the car is running better than before!

I am trying to locate where this whine might come from. To me, it sounds like it's coming from the cam gears, but I'm not entirely sure if the cam gears can make such a noise. The whine exists when the car is in neutral, and it will get louder as the RPM's increase. This made me suspect it was the serpentine belt, but I changed that while doing the alternator so that is fine. Below is a video attached of the whine that I speak of. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated as I dislike this sound and want it gone!

 

How tight is your timing belt?

 

It seems normal to me, but I might be wrong.

 

At some point the oil pump gears/case might have lost pressure with the change, although it's rare that whine is usually oil pump gear failure due to timing belt over tight... Or I could be wrong 😜😜😜

 

Is there a possible way I can pinpoint if it is the oil pump? Oil pressure seems to be fine from cold start to warm up, so I'm not sure how I can really test for a bad oil pump...I would suspect a bad oil pump would result in loss of pressure, and eventually cause something to detonate and create a nice hole in my block.

 

How loose is belt between cam gears when engine is off and cold? Noise could also be from any pulley sticking to backside of serpentine belt. Post pictures of belts looking downward.

 

 

Good idea. That's the quickest eay to find out if it's the serpentine belt side. Pull off the serpentine belt and run engine again to check for sound. Let us know what you find.

 

Good idea!

As for slack in the belt from the top, https://gyazo.com/a9ffd3c18fe3978f1ee442ec04d10060 would show how much I am able to do with my hand.

After taking care of some things, I'll go ahead and remove the serpentine belt and check to see if the noise persists. Hopefully, the noise goes away and we can pinpoint it to the idler pulleys! I'd like it to not be anything dealt with timing lol, but normally when you don't want something to happen, it happens to be that. I'll report back later today with some updates regarding the removal of the serpentine belt.

 

Timing belt tension looks normal. Hopefully, it's just a sticky pulley on serpentine belt.

 

That's loud. When I hear that noise I think power steering pump.

 

Update...took off the serpentine/accessory belt. Noise is gone!!

@barneyb,

I looked at the power steering pulley on the pump, and there happens to be some wiggle room. I'm not sure if that's what would be causing the noise? If so, where could I possibly get a new power steering pump?

 

 

Yeah, so we listened to the PS pump, and it sounds like it's the loudest, but I can't really get near the idler pulleys to test for that. The fluid is fine, we checked the level and it seems to be a-okay.

If it ends up being the PS pump, where would I get a new one? I seem to have difficulty finding a vendor that sells the part? I see many selling the reservoirs for the fluid, but not the actual pump.