Technical high pitched noise when car is hot?

[MK2lover]

I have in the last 2-3 weeks started getting a high pitched noise from the front of the car. The sound usually comes when i have driven for 10-20 minuttes and been a bit hard on the throttle.

The sound persists even if I go to neutral and take my foot of the gas. So I guess it is not engine or gearbox related?

Any ideas what this could be? The pitch almost sounds like a fan (have tried turning off the heater so that is not it). The pictch changes depending on speed and goes away if I slow down below about 40 km/h. Also just changed to winter tires and that didn't help.

 

[judderbar]

There is the radiator fan at the front of the engine. Big motor and plenty of noise potential if the bearing has dried out. The fan will be either on or off.


In the engine fuse box if you remove the large relay and put a wire like the picture the fan will run without the key in the car.

With the motor out on my MK2B 16V the bumper side bearing can be oiled easily and the engine side has to have the oil running down the inside of the case to reach the bearing

If you have to take the fan shroud off and you have the 16v air conditioned MK2B like me once you have the obvious screws off for the shroud you need to lift the air conditioning radiator off the fan shroud before you can free the shroud. It comes apart easily but will be stuck with no obvious way to remove it until you lift the front radiator off the shroud. The shroud is screwed to the rear water radiator. There are two plastic parts at the top of the AC radiator which are screwed to the shroud. For some reason I am recalling they might not have to be taken off but looking at the car it is hard to see why not. Annoyingly they are bolted from the front.

 

[MK2lover]

Thanks for the answer. The wiring trick did not work, but I pulled the plug from the radiator fan and the noise went away.

I'm considering just driving without the fan plugged in as it is winter anyways. I luckily don't have air conditioning, but it still seems difficult to oil it. Is it that bad to drive without the fan plugged in?

 

[judderbar]

Thanks for the answer. The wiring trick did not work, but I pulled the plug from the radiator fan and the noise went away.

I'm considering just driving without the fan plugged in as it is winter anyways. I luckily don't have air conditioning, but it still seems difficult to oil it. Is it that bad to drive without the fan plugged in?

The punto engine is notorious for getting problems if the engine overheats.

Do you want to risk it? Besides all the other parts of your cooling system have to be in good condition and your last resort cooling method will not be present

Yes it is winter. But if there are other problems you get a damaged engine