General Engine or ancillary makes terrible whine

[tigershoot]

[ame="https://youtu.be/h55CS7wSqSY"]https://youtu.be/h55CS7wSqSY[/ame]

I have a 1.4 16 valve 95BHP engine in my Idea, which is basically a Punto MK2 mechanically, hence my posting here.

Any ideas as to what causes the terrible sound you can hear in my dashcam video. After this video was recorded in September the problem rarely occurred and I could always 'cure' it by switching off and then back on.

About two weeks ago it came back but now at a much lower level of volume and is their permanently.

Any clues folks?

 

[judderbar]

https://youtu.be/h55CS7wSqSY

I have a 1.4 16 valve 95BHP engine in my Idea, which is basically a Punto MK2 mechanically, hence my posting here.

Any ideas as to what causes the terrible sound you can hear in my dashcam video. After this video was recorded in September the problem rarely occurred and I could always 'cure' it by switching off and then back on.

About two weeks ago it came back but now at a much lower level of volume and is their permanently.

Any clues folks?

Do you have to drive the car to produce that noise?

What happens if you just rev the engine?

 

[tigershoot]

The engine makes the sound regardless of wether I am driving or stationery.

 

[judderbar]

The engine makes the sound regardless of wether I am driving or stationery.

Get a cut down broom handle or a long handled screwdriver which you place to your ear and touch various parts of the alternator engine and gearbox so you can listen to the noise the part makes at that location so you can end up confidant where that particular noise comes from.

 

[tigershoot]

I will try tomorrow and update you as to what I discover.

 

[s and b]

when you restarted your car at the street with no name it struggled to start
this would be either the
aircon/alternator
cambelt tensioner
either need checking out soonest as these engines flip belts

 

[tigershoot]

Thanks for your help. I don't actually think it struggled to start - there was some other noise which can be heard but I think that was in the cabin (handbrake being pulled perhaps??).

The battery is actually very good as it is higher rated than needed as I bought it for a Grande Punto that I had that had starter motor squeal. In the end I fitted a new starter motor so I kept the uprated battery

 

[tigershoot]

As an update, I took this to my father-in-law who is mechanical engineer. He could hear the problem, and poked a bamboo stick (it's hollow so the sound travels along it brilliantly) around. Upshot is we could not figure out where the sound was coming from. It's much quieter now than in the video but it's definitely there.

If it provides any further clue, I remembered that the car first developed the awful sound (really loudly) when it had been on my drive unused for 5 weeks. Then, after regular use it quietened down. After a 2 week holiday it did the same thing - really noisy. So whatever it is is worsened by the car not being used - something must dry out I reckon.

Once the engine warms up it doesn't seem so bad.

 

[asteen]

I had whining from engine when cold. I Changed the cam belt tensioner, and it was gone.. this sounds different though. Like the waterpump maybe?

 

[tigershoot]

I am beginning to think it may be the water pump. It typically starts whining a few seconds after startup. Think it's time for a timing belt change (last done in 2011) so will change the pump at the same time.

 

[tigershoot]

So today we changed the cambelt, water pump and the tensioner of course.

The problem child? It was the tensioner! Quite gritty and obviously worn out. It was 50k since we last changed the cambelt.

The water pump had been leaking too and there was obvious dried out coolant residue in there.

We also noticed that the idler for the drive belt was a bit worn so I have new one on order.

 

[tigershoot]

Sadly even though the tensioner was not great the issue still is there. So there are only two options left. It's either the aircon compressor or the alternator.