Ok brainboxes, start thinking. As engine revs rise I get a whine from the engine bay. It almost sounds as though I have an electric motor under the bonnet instead of a petrol one. You get the same sound whether a gear is engaged or not. I'm thinking some kind of belt is slipping, but don't know. Performance is unaffected. Car is a '99 Seicento Sporting. Thoughts?

bearing in the alernator maybe,i had that on my old peugot

Could be the cam belt cover touching the cam belt. Mine does it. And maybe the starter motor shot pin staying in.... whatever its called?!

Interesting. If it was the alternator would the whine continue as the revs rise?

Could be the fan belt rubbing. I pulled a piece of black plastic off of it the other day as it had broken away and was rubbing on the belt. I wonder if the rest of the cover is rubbing as well.

Thanks for the quick replies.

My guess would either be Alternator, cam belt tenisoner or waterpump

does it go when your foot is all the way down on clutch pedal??if not then could be thrust bearing,if it don't go then thats that illiminated

Put ignition keys in pocket.

Lean over engine and rotate the alternator by hand, easy to grip the impellor, wear work gloves if pinkys are delicate, allergic.

Also attempt to rock the pulley at right angles to the run of the belt.

There should be no play on rocking and no saind in bearing or rubbing of impellor on casing feelings.

The tensioner bearing and water pump are more difficult to reach, but you can almost do the same, if you remove the covers, and the front wheel, if the water pump seal is weeping you should be able to see that.

If the car is a rescent purchase, and you dont like road side maintenance then replacing the toothed belt, tensioner and pump are cautious things to do. But the whine may be anything else.

Noel

The Silver Flash said:

Interesting. If it was the alternator would the whine continue as the revs rise?

Could be the fan belt rubbing. I pulled a piece of black plastic off of it the other day as it had broken away and was rubbing on the belt. I wonder if the rest of the cover is rubbing as well.

Thanks for the quick replies.

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if u pulled a piece of rubber off, i would say that's from the alternator belt. might have been fitted a tooth too far in. I had that and it whine like a bitch!!

Ming

has the car had a cambelt changed?? a over tensioned cambelt can make a loud wine as revs go up, sounds more like one of the above though,,,like the water pump,tensioners etc.

jason

i have the same problem, but its only when the engines cold and its not all the way through the rev range its between 2000 and 3500 rpm

:bang:I have the same problem the whine gets worse as the revs are applied look forward to all replys to this post as my mot is due next week and it sounds terrible.

Men, if i don't start the car for a fev days ..3-4...sometimes it happens to mee too...so, yes, i have the same problem it sound's very electric engindes )...but after i rev it a lil bith...drive with it like that...it stop's...what could it be??? i think it's a belt too...but let's figure it out for granted. Cheers mates...sry 4 bad english...i'm not a native speaker...

Dip a cotton rag in keroesne (for lamp or hsater) or Redex (injector cleaner) & rub it on the friction surface of the alternator belt, - with the engine stationary.

The squeak may dissappear, provided it is not that the belt is too slack.

Dont overtighten the belt - overtigntening a belt can destroy the alternators bearings.

Noel

Funny, picked up the car from the mechanic today, he was supposed to do the alternator belt too. And this is exaclty what I had too. A whine from the alternator rises/falls along with revs, didn't have it before (just the screaching belt ). Did he put to much tension on the belt?

Interesting. New water pump recently fitted so not that. The problem started after I drove through a flood. I was driving sensibly and don't even know if the two things are connected.

I'll be honest and say that the car is very well maintained because whenever my mechanic says something is not quite right I say "fix it", so it has had some new belts, I'm just not sure which ones.

The odd thing is it other than the flood, there is nothing that has happened that could have caused this other than some kind of part failure. It always drives fine after I leave the garage so I don't think this is a mistake by the mechanic.

The bit of plastic I pulled off was rubbing against the fan belt and not the alternator belt so while that piece of plastic might be irrelevant thee may well be another piece somewhere else that is rubbing.

The noise happens with the car in neutral. Haven't tried it with the clutch engaged. Will try that when I get home on Friday.

So, I think I have replied to everyone's ideas. Thank you very much.

On Friday I shall do the following:

1. Check for more plastic rubbing on belts.
2. Clean belts with kerosene without engine running (thank you Pep0)
3. See if it happens with the clutch engaged

Could it be that some water went into the distributor or the air filter?

Really appreciate these replies.

Hi

The requirement is to get keresene on to the belt, the pully and the belt will then clean themselves the next time you run the engine, you can rub the rag on the belt, run the engine, stop the engine, rub the rag,... run the engine,... several time to get the belt and pully really clean... some people just drip keresene on to the running belt, dont do that it is a really good way of starting a nice warm fire...

Check the alternator pully will turn freely without grinding feeling, and does not have side play. You can just do this with belt in place, unless the belt is really tight

If you waded the car really deep you might suck water into the intake, but you would have other worries then, no whine at all, check the sir filter is ok though just in case, replace if damaged.

Noel

ive got a similar problem with my sei exept its not a whine, it sounds weezy like its got a cold lol gonna check all things mentioned but could it be something else ?? before i go and replace the wrong parts

If you cannot identify the part and it is just a noise wait until it breaks.

or try a stethoscope.

all the parts I replaced were the wrong ones... still like buzzz saw.

Noel

Sounds like when you went thru the puddle, the water has washed away all of the grease from a bearing somewhere.

paologray said:

Sounds like when you went thru the puddle, the water has washed away all of the grease from a bearing somewhere.

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can't see that buddy grease being a water repelent,unless you were doing warp speed then i could agree