General punto whistling noise

[Italian scallion]

Fellow punto owners,

I'm hoping someone can help. I own a 2001 MKII Punto which has developed a strange whistling / whooshing sound over the past year. My best attempt to describe the sound is a kind of low pitched whistle or strung out "Whooooooooooooooop" sound gradually rising in pitch and volume, then abruptly stopping after a few seconds.
The prospect of renditioning this sound in front of the mechanics at my local garage is something I'd rather avoid.

The sound lasts for less than 5 seconds on acceleration in low gears only, when the engine has been started from cold. It only occurs when the car is in motion, between say 10 and 30 mph. Revving the engine at standstill fails to replicate the noise. Neither does it occur at high speeds or when the engine is warm.

The noise sounds like it's coming from under the bonnet - somewhere. That's as much as I can tell from the driving seat.

It does not appear to affect performance in anyway, but it is annoying. In all other respects the car runs really well, with 38,000 miles on the clock.


I've searched all of the posts on the site with similar sounding problems and the following causes have all been put forward:

• Fan belt
• Timing belt
• split in filter box air intake pipe
• Dirty air filter
• water pump bearing
• alternator bearing
• splits in the exhaust
• small gaps between exhaust sections

What do people think? Are there any simple tests I could undertake to narrow this list down?

Any further input would be really appreciated.
Cheers,

Dave

 

[dumbledore]

Fan belt is normally the cause but as is not happening when you are not moving and car just started belt probably not cause.
My feeling is from what you say that the clutch may start to fail and it makes this noise when cold. When warm the clutch may be still weak but the noise goes away. Accelerating hard in 3rd up a hill will trigger the clutch to slip and you can check it out like this. If clutch is OK then noise is caused by something else.

 

[colinf1]

Have you checked the condition of the gearbox oil? Would be worth changing it.

 

[Italian scallion]

Dumbledore,
I don't recall it occurring in 3rd gear, and I've not experienced any clutch problems to date either. It appears to be related to heavy acceleration, which occurs most frequently in 1st and 2nd. From what I can tell it sounds more like air whooshing about rather than mechanical in origin.

Thanks Colinf,

Got a service coming up, so could get them to change gear oil too.

cheers,

Dave

 

[Biotic Blue]

I had a similar occurence on my 2001 MK2, it generally occurred at slower speeds, but would get higher pitched at faster speeds and was occasionally noticeable on the motorway, turned out to be the radiator fan when spinning, some WD40 later and it was gone.
You could try checking this when the car is hot and awaiting the fan to kick in electrically rather than by wind force, you never know?

 

[interlock]

Fan sounds possible but I have had a whooshing noise occuring that appeared to be from the under bonnet area , which I eventually tracked down to directional tread, open block type tyres? You could also check wipers/scuttle, mirrors or grille?

 

[JAM113]

Hi
I get this on cold mornings, on heavy acceleration around 3000-4000rpm, and it appears to be the air going through the throttle body, usually disappears after 5 minutes and i can only hear it with my induction kit on the car.
Hope this helps

 

[DaveMcT]

Disconnect the air intake at the throttle body and go for a short drive. If the noise sounds the same but louder you have the source. It wont do any harm for a short run with no air filter, but put it back as soon as its shown what you need to know (or not).

 

[Brendan W]

Timing belt slipping on tensioner.

 

[dumbledore]

I don't recall it occurring in 3rd gear,

The 3rd gear thing is a test to check if the clutch is weak. If the clutch does not show signs of slipping then most likely not the cause of this noise.
Also belts cannot be the cause of this noise as the noise only happen when the car is moving. Revving the engine while stationary does not make the noise.

 

[Italian scallion]

Thanks everyone for your replies, see responses below:

I had a similar occurence on my 2001 MK2, it generally occurred at slower speeds, but would get higher pitched at faster speeds and was occasionally noticeable on the motorway, turned out to be the radiator fan when spinning, some WD40 later and it was gone.

You could try checking this when the car is hot and awaiting the fan to kick in electrically rather than by wind force, you never know?

Biotic blue,

i think this one can be ruled out as I've been stuck in traffic in the summer and have heard the fan come on, and the noise hasn’t occurred. Also, the noise occurs from cold, before the fan has kicked in and at road speeds I wouldn’t have though great enough to cause the fan to spin fast enough to generate that much noise. Cheers anyway for your help.

[/QUOTE]Fan sounds possible but I have had a whooshing noise occuring that appeared to be from the under bonnet area , which I eventually tracked down to directional tread, open block type tyres? You could also check wipers/scuttle, mirrors or grille? [/QUOTE]

Interlock,
normal tyres
Cheers

[/QUOTE] Hi
I get this on cold mornings, on heavy acceleration around 3000-4000rpm, and it appears to be the air going through the throttle body, usually disappears after 5 minutes and i can only hear it with my induction kit on the car.
Hope this helps [/QUOTE]

Jam113,
What’s an induction kit??
My motor hasn’t had any modifications.
Cheers


[/QUOTE] Disconnect the air intake at the throttle body and go for a short drive. If the noise sounds the same but louder you have the source. It wont do any harm for a short run with no air filter, but put it back as soon as its shown what you need to know (or not). [/QUOTE]

Whitesei,
Is there any chance you could provide some more detail or link to a diagram, showing what needs to be disconnected?
Cheers


[/QUOTE] Timing belt slipping on tensioner. [/QUOTE]

Brendan, are there any simple tests I can run to test this out?

[/QUOTE]The 3rd gear thing is a test to check if the clutch is weak. If the clutch does not show signs of slipping then most likely not the cause of this noise.
Also belts cannot be the cause of this noise as the noise only happen when the car is moving. Revving the engine while stationary does not make the noise. [/QUOTE]

Dumbledore – see what you mean now.
Thanks.

 

[Italian scallion]

The main dealer garage have come back with what they say is 100% confident diagnosis the noise is caused by the Timing belt tensioner. Cost for them to replace the belt and tensioner is £180!

Thanks again to everyone for your input.

cheers,

Dave

 

[Brendan W]

Seen this happen with brand new belt and tensioner. Only happens when cold and accelerating in low gears. Think it has to do with the belt tension and the belt hopping around at certain engine speeds and to a lesser extent maybe the stiffness of the tensioner.

 

[s and b]

The main dealer garage have come back with what they say is 100% confident diagnosis the noise is caused by the Timing belt tensioner. Cost for them to replace the belt and tensioner is £180!

Thanks again to everyone for your input.

cheers,

Dave

thats a lot of money if its an 8 valve

 

[Italian scallion]

Cheers for that, yes it is an 8 valve.

Just got a quote from another (non dealer) garage for £112 for this work. If the noise can still occur with a new belt and tensioner, it might be best off sticking with the main dealer, who pretty much guarantees this will stop the noise though. Sounds like there might be a fair amount of skill required to fit the belt and tensioner correctly?

 

[Brendan W]

It's not rocket science , £100 ish sounds reasonable. Main dealers don't always have the best spanners.

 

[colinf1]

This is an easy DIY job, probably be around £30 for the belt and tensioner kit.
Would take about an hour or so to do it.
Even a step by step guide on here ; https://www.fiatforum.com/punto-guides/145691-how-replace-timing-belt-tensioner.html

 

[Italian scallion]

I've just been checking out the costs of the timing belt kits on line:
http://www.eurocarparts.com/ecp/c/F...s/belts-chains-and-tensioners/timing-belt-kit

There's an almost threefold increase in price for the higher engine numbers! (greater than 2533529)

 

[Italian scallion]

This is an easy DIY job, probably be around £30 for the belt and tensioner kit.
Would take about an hour or so to do it.
Even a step by step guide on here ; https://www.fiatforum.com/punto-guides/145691-how-replace-timing-belt-tensioner.html

Thanks for the link, looks like it would be fun to have a crack at, but I'm going to get the belt changed at the same time, so this is one for the garage. Don't want to risk messing up the timing or anything, as I've seen posts where people have run into bother following timing belt changes.

Cheers

 

[thelad]

If its a 8 valve you cant really mess the timing up, use the timing marks to line it up whip the old belt and tensioner off,stick new ones on, if it slips you cant damage your engine by piston and valve contact.