Dreaded Alternator Whine - Except it's not the alternator.

[dumpedwagon]

Hey all. Last Saturday, I was driving back from a Welding class and stopped to put in some gas at a Shell station. Put in $20 and headed on my way. I heard a funny noise but thought it was the old f150 in front of me. Eventually, a gap formed between us and I realized the noise was coming from me so I pulled over immediately.

It's a RPM-dependent whine/whistle that almost sound like a really loud turbo

Was coming directly from the alternator so we popped in another one and to our dismay, it is still there.

Have done a lot of research online and everybody says it's something different. One guy said he had the whole entire motor rebuilt and it was still there (finally decided to just give up because he said he liked the sound as it sounded like a "rally car").

Car is a 1992 Legacy Non-Turbo. I have done the research with no luck and was wondering if any of you have come upon this same problem and how you resolved it.

I apologize for the long post . Also, thanks in advance for taking the time!

-Dan.


Edit: I've done some more research on this site. Seems like usually the noise goes away for most people after the car warms up. Mine does not.

[kimokalihi]

The noise is under the hood and not inside the car? Could be an idler or any of the pulleys. Including ac and power steering. If you hear it inside it could be coming through the speakers. Had alternator whine before when I had unshielded rca cables on a power wire for my amp.

[vrg3]

Yeah, I agree it's likely to be one of the other accessory pulleys -- the power steering pump, the A/C compressor, or the A/C compressor idler.

I would take off both the alternator/PS belt and the A/C compressor belt and feel how smoothly all the pulleys turn. You may find one that's obviously bad. If you don't, try starting the engine without those belts. You can safely run the engine for several minutes without the alternator. If the whine is gone, then put the belts on one at a time to narrow down the problem.

[powerofone]

Could also be one of the timing belt pulleys because two of them are directly under the alt.

[dumpedwagon]

Yes sir, the noise is definitely from under the hood. It sounded like it was coming directly from the alternator, which is why we replaced it.

We had a similar noise about a year back but not as bad. It did turn out being the power steering pump, which was replaced and it went away. The noise from the power steering was almost inaudible. You could only hear it on dead streets (no noise). This new whine is very loud.

Now that I think about it, we did start the engine for about 30 seconds after pulling off the belt that ran on the alternator but shut if off without listening closely. I guess that's we'll do next when the weather gets better. We'll pull off all the belts and see where the noise is coming from. Do you guys think there will be any problem driving the car as is? Guess it depends on what is actually "broken".

As I said, I'll do the belt/pulley test when the weather gets better and I'll report back. Thanks for the help guys!

[powerofone]

Yea unhook the alt belt and AC belt start it if you still hear the noise I wouldn't run it because it will be a good chance its one of the timing belt idlers and the timing belt could break but if the noise goes away just put the AC belt on and try it and if it still don't make the noise it will almost have to be your power steering pump since your alt is new

[Legacy777]

I'd suspect the power steering pump. Check how smoothly it rotates. It should rotate very smoothly.

[Inlinesicks]

I had the same whine, turned out the timing cover got a little tweaked and was rubbing on the timing belt.