Eharrison

Ok I've been searching and found the threads on whistles, whales and other noises.

I think I've narrowed it down to some sort of clutch issue. I thought it was pulleys, but I lubed them up and did the no belt test. I realized today that the noise is coming from the front of the engine (between the transmission and engine). I thought it might have been the AOS, but there's no real suction on the oil cap and it doesn't noticeably affect the idle, or kill the engine by removing the cap. At the 0:55 mark of the video, I'm depressing the clutch in and out and it seems to change the whistle. So I'm guessing clutch, which I know need to be replaced soon, (now sooner than later).

It's a cold start and that's the condensation coming from the pipes. as well as the air pump still running. And it's was raining here yesterday so the cars dirty. We don't get rain here often so when it rains we take the cars out!


What say you? 1999 996

ArneeA

The car is whining because you take it to the canyons too much! ;-)

Macster

If noise affected by depressing clutch pedal then noise almost certainly coming from clutch, probably release bearing. I could barely hear noise change and wouldn't have had you not mentioned you were in the car working clutch pedal at 55 seconds into clip. With my head up close to speakers and concentrating I could barely make out "whistle".

1999 996. Car is going on 10 years old, maybe 11.

How many miles? Original clutch, release bearing? How is car driven, treated?

Do not like to hear/read pulleys being lubed. Accessory drives are sealed and do not require any lubrication and in fact any lube can get on belt and cause problems. Belt should not be treated with any "belt dressing" either.

A clutch job alot of money to spend based on a diagnosis from a video audio clip.

How is noise when engine/drivetrain up to temperature? Same? Less? More?

Remember cars just get noisier when it gets colder and the noise may be nothing more than that.

Absent a more definitive symptom or clearer indications something truely amiss I'd suggest living with the noise for a while and seeing that turns up.

Of course, should engine start to exhibit untoward behavior at idle or at any other time, best to shut off engine and get car to a qualified shop for diagnosis.

Sincerely,

Macster.

Eharrison

Well the car has 55K miles on it, I bought it at 38,000. I drive it basically on weekend, and I drive it hard. But all the services are complete, in addition to oil changes between services. Everything is always topped up and I normally go through the car once and a while to see if there's anything out of place.

The noise did go away (I think) when the car heated up but only after quite some time driving. UPDATE:I'm up loading another video after it has driven for a while. The whistle starts at 1500 rpm everytime. Still changes when pushing the clutch in and out.


I will most likely keep running it until the noise gets louder. I'm assuming that it's the original clutch, it has slipped before but when I had pushed it too hard. I don't think that tranny's been cracked open at all.

As for the pulleys, they were removed and some WD40was used to see if there was a change in how they rolled. The were cleaned up prior to reinstalling them.

I'm guessing clutch, but we'll see down the road, I was hoping that this was a unique sound that someone could identify.

Thanks for your input.

Mother

Tuff call but changing the tranny oil change could not hurt. The throw out bearing is not spinning when in neutral so should be out of the picture.

CosmosC4S

It's really hard to hear anything like that on a youtube video.
But I think I know exactly what you are trying to describe. I was also sniffing around for that very high-pitch whine in my engine compartment.
Doesn't sound like anything "bad" but it does make me curious enough. It sounded like it was coming from the area around the pulley/alternator area.

Eharrison

That's what I orignally thought and would swear by it but then walked by the wheel wells and heard it much more louder. I've added another video from under the car.....It's gotten progressively worse ever time I drive it, however, that's maybe three times in four weeks and it's gotten progressively colder here too....

You can definitely hear it at 1:06 on the second video...I can hear it on laptop speakers so I know it's loud.

ivangene

I had the same whine

I swear, changing the tranny oil to Swepco 210 while thinking of swapping the clutch solved the problem - its been about a year now.. never came back

LINK

listen to mine

Eharrison

I read that link earlier this morning and was bummed that the links to the youtube videos were broken! But you have the same noise. I guess I'll start with the tranny oil change. It has been increasingly harder to shift so maybe this will kill two birds.

Unless a month from now I see a post from you talking about some epic clutch failure....

CosmosC4S

I had the transmission fluid changed last year, together with the front differential service as well.
Mine's a high-pitch whine, almost like a piece of metal grinding on a high-speed grinding wheel.

Eharrison

Yes that seems different it honestly sounds like a whistle in mine. I know metal on metal, cavitation and others this is definitely a whistle. I hope your metal grinding isn't going to be too $$$.

Eharrison

And Arnee, how much is too much? Really, you need to get out there more!

ivangene

Does it ever stop, after some time, or is it always making the noise?

rb101

Take off the belt and see if the sound goes away. I think it's a idler pulley or alternator bearing going bad.

Rick
99 996C4
87 944S

ivangene

No way... its exactly what I had..... I dont know what is causing it but I know mine went away after a tranny fluid swap...