Jump to content
SAU Community

Recommended Posts

Hey guys,

Today out of no where a whining sound relative to my motor's speed came up.

The sound is really hard to describe but it's definitely an off-sounding whine that doesn't sound good. At the same time I could also smell something burning.

At first I thought it would be one of my belts or pulleys but they were all fine.

I was thinking it might be my clutch fan but not sure, how do they sound when they are on their way out??

Anyway I went for a drive and when I got home the whine was gone, so the problem seems erratic/random. The whine sounds very serious and it makes me too scared to drive my car.

Anyone have any ideas what it could be?

Thanks

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/131468-wierd-whining-from-motor/
Share on other sites

The burning thing has confused me but I have had whining three times before increasing with engine speed and the culprits were:

1st. gearbox

2nd. Timing belt idler or tensioner, which was a whining/grinding noise. You said you checked all belts and pulleys but you realise the timing belt is behind the timing cover yes? I removed the CAS, then undid and removed the top half of the cover and shone a torch in and saw metal flakes everywhere. The bearing had shat itself and was grinding itself away.

3rd. Clutch fan. Simple check is when car is off and cold is to try and spin it. If you cant turn it or there is a grinding sound when turning it then its gone. Giving it a flick it wont freespin but should spin about 180 degrees. When first started and car is cold you should hear it roar for about 30 seconds max. Start car in driveway and hold revs steady at say 2,000rpm and you should be able to hear it roaring and then die off.

But like I said, as you also smelt something burning along with the whine it could be something different altogether as none of the above accompanied a burning smell.

The burning thing has confused me but I have had whining three times before increasing with engine speed and the culprits were:

1st. gearbox

2nd. Timing belt idler or tensioner, which was a whining/grinding noise. You said you checked all belts and pulleys but you realise the timing belt is behind the timing cover yes? I removed the CAS, then undid and removed the top half of the cover and shone a torch in and saw metal flakes everywhere. The bearing had shat itself and was grinding itself away.

3rd. Clutch fan. Simple check is when car is off and cold is to try and spin it. If you cant turn it or there is a grinding sound when turning it then its gone. Giving it a flick it wont freespin but should spin about 180 degrees. When first started and car is cold you should hear it roar for about 30 seconds max. Start car in driveway and hold revs steady at say 2,000rpm and you should be able to hear it roaring and then die off.

But like I said, as you also smelt something burning along with the whine it could be something different altogether as none of the above accompanied a burning smell.

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

1. It isn't the gearbox, I know this for sure because I just put a new one in and regardless of the input shaft speed (clutch in or out) the whine is still there. So that can be ruled out.

2. I was also thinking it may be coming from the timing belt but as you said you can't check that with the cover over it. Having said this, my timing belt and bearings have only been replaced less than 8 months ago so I highly doubt that would be it. But I really should check to be sure! :O

3. Clutch fan, not sure if it matters if it's cold or hot but while it was hot I spun the fan and it felt normal, spun freely as usual with no grinding noises. I might check the cold start "roar" tomorrow.

What do you think given this new information? :(

Is it air-related?

My turbo turbine got hit by a mud wasp's nest after I went for a bash against a GTR a couple of weeks after I had put a new manifold on (the bastards layed their nests in the exhaust ports of my fj overnight when I hadnt had the manifold on and I didnt check inside the ports... but i had a damaged turbine which whined when coming onto boost and it didnt sound nice. No burning smell. Glad I got rid of it though.

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

1. It isn't the gearbox, I know this for sure because I just put a new one in and regardless of the input shaft speed (clutch in or out) the whine is still there. So that can be ruled out.

2. I was also thinking it may be coming from the timing belt but as you said you can't check that with the cover over it. Having said this, my timing belt and bearings have only been replaced less than 8 months ago so I highly doubt that would be it. But I really should check to be sure! :O

3. Clutch fan, not sure if it matters if it's cold or hot but while it was hot I spun the fan and it felt normal, spun freely as usual with no grinding noises. I might check the cold start "roar" tomorrow.

What do you think given this new information? :(

Is it air-related?

My turbo turbine got hit by a mud wasp's nest after I went for a bash against a GTR a couple of weeks after I had put a new manifold on (the bastards layed their nests in the exhaust ports of my fj overnight when I hadnt had the manifold on and I didnt check inside the ports... but i had a damaged turbine which whined when coming onto boost and it didnt sound nice. No burning smell. Glad I got rid of it though.

Nah this isn't air related. The whine is directly related to motor speed (RPM).

Anyone have any other ideas? :)

other things to check.

- Altenator: the bearings might be stuffed or the bushes failing, hence the burning smell..

- power steering pump: again, bearing related.

- water pump: bearing also... but wont explain burning smell

all the above will increase a whine with the revs.. if they are failing/failed.

try disconnecting belts one by one off each item and quickly start motor/rev and switch off to see if it still whines or goes away... one way to diagnose it

other things to check.

- Altenator: the bearings might be stuffed or the bushes failing, hence the burning smell..

- power steering pump: again, bearing related.

- water pump: bearing also... but wont explain burning smell

all the above will increase a whine with the revs.. if they are failing/failed.

try disconnecting belts one by one off each item and quickly start motor/rev and switch off to see if it still whines or goes away... one way to diagnose it

Good idea, but would it still be them if the whine is intermittent?

  • 2 months later...

mate I got exactly the same problem

a weird rubbery burning smell followed by some screeching/whining coming from around the alternator/fan area

I am thinking its the waterpump but i'm not too sure

did you manage to find out what yours was?

I got this exact same weird burning rubbery/plasticy smell yesterday and a screeching relative to engine noise. Pulled over and checked straight away expecting a PS or Alt belt to be slipping.

Found smoke coming from my timing case. So i've ordered a new belt and just gotta pull the timing cover off and check whether it was the tensioner or the idler. I'm expecting it to be the idler. I will let you know. Also both pulleys were replaced about 50 000 ago.

I got this exact same weird burning rubbery/plasticy smell yesterday and a screeching relative to engine noise. Pulled over and checked straight away expecting a PS or Alt belt to be slipping.

Found smoke coming from my timing case. So i've ordered a new belt and just gotta pull the timing cover off and check whether it was the tensioner or the idler. I'm expecting it to be the idler. I will let you know. Also both pulleys were replaced about 50 000 ago.

Any way to check this without pulling off the CAS, etc...

I haven't been concerned enough to pull part everything to check as I only just got all my belts, tensioners, and idlers replaced recently so I would assume they are still all good.

Unless you bought the tensioners/idlers and replaced them yourself do rip off the top timing belt cover and have a look in.

I trust no one, in the past had the odd bad experience. (full gearbox rebuild where they only just replaced a couple of syncro's resulting in a box that still had layshaft rattle and the worse part, they charged me 1.2k)

I can suss out that it cannot be the alternator in my situation, as it hasn't been more than 10,000km I got it replaced.

I didnt see any smoke coming from the CAS or timing cover so hmm.. I think Ill give the clutchfan or waterpump a go at replacing

What are the effects of a waterpump going?

Unless you bought the tensioners/idlers and replaced them yourself do rip off the top timing belt cover and have a look in.

I trust no one, in the past had the odd bad experience. (full gearbox rebuild where they only just replaced a couple of syncro's resulting in a box that still had layshaft rattle and the worse part, they charged me 1.2k)

I was there when he did the whole job :happy:

I can suss out that it cannot be the alternator in my situation, as it hasn't been more than 10,000km I got it replaced.

I didnt see any smoke coming from the CAS or timing cover so hmm.. I think Ill give the clutchfan or waterpump a go at replacing

What are the effects of a waterpump going?

Your car should start to overheat if your waterpump is going, you might notice it leaking as well.

ok well the temperature gauge has been the same as always, but I guess can't really trust that.. would be better off having an aftermarket temp gauge. but hm, what is the piece in the center of the clutch fan (assuming this is the big one with white fins and used to hit my fmic piping ahha)..? cause It seems the noise is coming from there.. is it possible to replace that bit or you would need to replace the entire fan? Im not sure if that would explain why there was a burning rubbery smell from there aswell..

With mine it was near impossible to distinguish where the noise was coming from exactly. And the burning rubber smell would more than likely be the back of the timing belt sliding over the siezed pulley.

Hey guys,

Today out of no where a whining sound relative to my motor's speed came up.

The sound is really hard to describe but it's definitely an off-sounding whine that doesn't sound good. At the same time I could also smell something burning.

At first I thought it would be one of my belts or pulleys but they were all fine.

I was thinking it might be my clutch fan but not sure, how do they sound when they are on their way out??

Anyway I went for a drive and when I got home the whine was gone, so the problem seems erratic/random. The whine sounds very serious and it makes me too scared to drive my car.

Anyone have any ideas what it could be?

Thanks

hey mate i got da same problem wit my R32.. i been told by mechanic dat the Timing belt idler or tensioner had shit itself and da pulleys r comon stuff ups on R32's..

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • The average previous owner for these cars were basically S-chassis owners in the US. Teenagers or teenager-adjacent. I often tell people that neglect is easier to fix than something that was actively "repaired" by previous owners.
    • Update 3: Hi all It's been a while. Quite a lot of things happened in the meantime, among other things the car is (almost) back together and ready to be started again. Things that I fixed or changed: Full turbo removal, fitting back the OEM turbo oil hardlines. Had to do quite a bit of research and parts shopping to get every last piece that I need and make it work with the GT2860 turbos, but it does work and is not hard to do. Proves that the previous owner(s) just did not want to. While I was there I set the preload for the wastegates to 0,9bar to hopefully make it easier for the tuner to hit the 370hp I need for the legal inspections that will follow later on. Boost can always go up if necessary. Fitted a AN10 line from the catch can to the intake hose to make the catchcan and hopefully the cam covers a slight vacuum to have less restrictive oil returns from the head and not have mud build up as harshly in the lines and catch can. Removed the entire front interior just shy of the dashboard itself to clean up some of the absolutely horrendous wiring, (hopefully) fix the bumpy tacho and put in LED bulbs while I was there. Also put in bulbs where there was none before, like the airbag one. I also used that chance to remove the LED rpm gauge on the steering column, which was also wired in absolute horror show fashion. Moved the 4in1 Prosport gauge from sitting in front of the OEM oil pressure gauge to the center console vents, I used a 3D printed vent piece to hold that gauge there. The HKB steering wheel boss was likely on incorrectly as I sometimes noticed the indicator reset being uneven for left vs. right. In the meantime also installed an airbag delete resistor, as one should. Installed Cube Speed premium short shifter. Feels pretty nice, hope it'll work great too when I actually get to drive. Also put on a fancy Dragon Ball shift knob, cause why not. My buddy was kind enough to weld the rust hole in the back, it was basically rusted through in the lowermost corner of the passenger side trunk area where the wheel arch, trunk panel and rear quarter all meet. Obviously there is still a lot of crustiness in various areas but as long as it's not rusted out I'll just treat and isolate the corrosion and pretend it's not there. Also had to put down a new ground wire for the rear subframe as the original one was BARELY there. Probably a bit controversial depending on who you ask about this... but I ended up just covering the crack in the side of the engine block, the one above the oil feed, with JB Weld. I used a generous amount and roughed up the whole area with a Dremel before, so I hope this will hold the coolant where it should be for the foreseeable future. Did a cam cover gasket job as the half moons were a bit leaky, and there too one could see the people who worked on this car before me were absolute tools. The same half moons were probably used like 3 times without even cleaning the old RTV off. Dremeled out the inside of the flange where the turbine housing mates onto the exhaust manifolds so the diameter matches, as the OEM exhaust manifolds are even narrower than the turbine housings as we all know. Even if this doesn't do much, I had them out anyways, so can't harm. Ideally one would port-match both the turbo and the manifold to the gasket size but I really didn't feel up to disassembling the turbine housings. Wrapped turbo outlet dumps in heat wrap band. Will do the frontpipe again as well as now the oil leak which promted me to tear apart half the engine in the first place is hopefully fixed. Fitted an ATI super damper to get rid of the worn old harmonic balancer. Surely one of the easiest and most worth to do mods. But torquing that ARP bolt to spec was a bitch without being able to lock the flywheel. Did some minor adjustments in the ECU tables to change some things I didn't like, like the launch control that was ALWAYS active. Treated rusty spots and surface corrosion on places I could get to and on many spots under the car, not pretty or ideal but good enough for now. Removed the N1 rear spats and the carbon surrounding for the tailpipe to put them back on with new adhesive as the old one was lifting in many spots, not pretty. Took out the passenger rear lamp housing... what do you know. Amateur work screwed me again here as they were glued in hard and removing it took a lot of force, so I broke one of the housing bolts off. And when removing the adhesive from the chassis the paint came right off too. Thankfully all the damaged area won't be visible later, but whoever did the very limited bodywork on this car needs to have their limbs chopped off piece by piece.   Quite a list if I do say so myself, but a lot of time was spent just discovering new shit that is wrong with the car and finding a solution or parts to fix it. My last problem that I now have the headache of dealing with is that the exhaust studs on the turbo outlets are M10x1.25 threaded, but the previous owner already put on regular M10 nuts so the threads are... weird. I only found this out the hard way. So now I will just try if I can in any way fit the front pipe regardless, if not I'll have to redo the studs with the turbos installed. Lesson learned for the future: Redo ALL studs you put your hands on, especially if they are old and the previous owners were inept maniacs. Thanks for reading if you did, will update when the engine runs again. Hope nothing breaks or leaks and I can do a test drive.
    • No those pads are DBA too  but they have colors too. I look at the and imo the green "street" are the best.
    • I’m not sure what happened I told them about sonic tunes free OTS tune and the next the I know .. I was booted..   To funny 
×
×
  • Create New...