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Who can Identify this noise?


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The sound quality isn't all that good, but is captured. video is aimed at power steering pump.

http://media.putfile.com/noiseSube

Any ideas? its been doing it for years from what I can gather. Upon changing timing belts , I still couldn't find it. I lubed a/c clutch (external) with wd40 -- wasn't it. Also ruled out power steering...and new alternator. Whatever it is hasn't hurt anything in 27k miles i have driven this car.Take a guess....if you don't know for sure. :)

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my car made the same sound when my inner belt was loose and scraping against the bottom of the power steering fluid resevoir. check to see if it's loose and if not, these other guys can help you, lol. but i doubt it is being that it's done it so long... it seems like after a while it'd eat away at the inner belt and destroy it.

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Use a length of heater core hose (a couple feet will do - about $2 from the parts guy) and put one end to your ear. Try to locate where the sound is comming from with the other end. When it's loudest you have found the area of concern.

 

It sounds like the timing belt rubbing on one of the covers or something..... but that's a wild guess.

 

GD

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Use a length of heater core hose (a couple feet will do - about $2 from the parts guy) and put one end to your ear. Try to locate where the sound is comming from with the other end. When it's loudest you have found the area of concern.

 

It sounds like the timing belt rubbing on one of the covers or something..... but that's a wild guess.

 

GD

That is a good idea, I got some..

I crawled right underneath while it was running once.. the plastic has got the all clear inside and out (no rubs).I still could not find it. I recently saw a vid on "streetfire" where a supercharger was making an identical noise on a v8. The sound on my engine runs deep.. after losing the crank belt pulley, I got to hear it run with no belts and the noise was still there. Being the supercharger noise came from something with very tight tolerance, I am wondering if it is the oil pump--- I have yet to find shiny things in the filter however. So that leaves belt tensioners, cam pulleys.I have mentioned it before here at usmb, the belt tensioners seemed to be the best logical guess. Whatever it is -- it is in a pair, because there is actually 2 whining noises and a chirper -- maybe both timing belt tensioners. I made humor of it sounding like twin turbos spooling-- under bridges and in tunnels where cars echo-- this thing is screaming loudly. :horse::banghead:

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i would leave it, because it definately sounds like a blower!

honestly i would take the belts off and run it, see if it makes the noise, if so then you might be looking at a timing chain issue, if not, you might be looking at a belt rub, or bad bearings in the compressor, or any other belt driven component. my idler seized up on the inside belt....years ago, still sticks in there, just doesnt do anything, cant push myself to cut it off, seeing as it is useless......u didnt actuallly think i would even try to get an idler for a 91 loyale in ny...did you? theres like 2 of these cars within 100 miles of me...and i found them both!p.s. try not to run the car too long without the belts....itll kill the battery, and overheat your engine..:banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead:

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Get a mechanic's stethoscope! The hose trick is o.k., but this a tool that shall always be in my toolbox. It looks like a doctor's except it has a long rod on it for reaching into tight spots and pinpointing exactly where a noise is down to an individual bearing. It's great for listening to injectors too. These can be found at tool sales, etc. Maybe even Harbor Freight.

 

A word of caution: Use these things with care! Putting it on something extremely loud (squeeling bearing, etc) will leave you deaf.

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while youre at the store get ahold of a can of white lithium spray grease.. it is MUCH more useful than wd 40 for lubricating something like this... WD 40 might identify it, but itll dry up in an hour. the white lithium grease is FAR from an ideal lubricant for failing timing chain tensioner bearings... but its a damn sight better than WD-40.. PB Blaster and Sea Foam Deep Creep are both far superior to WD 40 in just about any way, anyhow.. at least, between the two. that sea foam stuff is worth the seven bucks a can they charge for it.. and worth it to a poor man, too....

 

ideally, you should get a grease gun with a needle tip, but i have had many occassions where nothing worked better than an aerosol can of white lithium grease.

 

i am about the only person I know who ever buys a can... but i never have any. when i DO find a can, its USUALLY almost empty. somehow, no one else thinks to buy this.. just to use it. i guess theyre all lucky im around, huh? :- )

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Like others stated its a hard thing to diagnose Via a sound clip. But it does sound a bit like a a/c clutch draging. turn on the A/C and see if the noise goes away when the clutch engauges.

And no amount of spray lube (whatever the type) will fix a bad bearing.

 

I assume you did all the tesnsioners/idlers with the T.belt and all belts ar good and tight?

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okay, no type of spray lube can fix a bad bearing.. but shooting white lithium grease into a tensioner is going to have more lasting positive effects than WD 40. thats all :- )

 

the stuff fills an important niche in a good supply of shop lubricants, and it is frequently overlooked. I was just singing its praises:banana:

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okay, no type of spray lube can fix a bad bearing.. but shooting white lithium grease into a tensioner is going to have more lasting positive effects than WD 40. thats all :- )

 

the stuff fills an important niche in a good supply of shop lubricants, and it is frequently overlooked. I was just singing its praises:banana:

 

you are correct WD40 is not the best kind of lube in general.

I was not trying to put down your point.

I just thought it migt be a little misleading in regards to the topic at hand.

no biggie.

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like i said, im just singin'

 

i just bought a ne can the other day, to be honest, and im still finding things ive been wanting to hit with some white lithium grease. kinda, kid-in-a-candy-store like, but for a tweak-freak. (ie, one that goes to sometimes absurd lengths to make things work, or work better... a tinkerer, you know)

 

but you did have a valid point i failed to bring up.. bad bearing cant be fixed by magic spray.

 

meanwhile, we still dont know what the noise is. Those mechanics stethoscopes work very well.. they usually have about a one foot long SS tube thats about 3/16 inch inner diameter that you probe around the engine bay with. GREAT tool for finding vacuum leaks, once youve used one to trace a leak down you never do it the hard way again, given a choice. Piece of tubing in the ear works good too, but it would be better if you had a plug for the other ear. you could easily rig two pieces of tubing together side by side for a ways, say a foot, then let them split to go into each ear.. kind of a macgyver, doit yourself stethoscope. doctors scopes come both ways, some of them have a union right at the neckpiece and go to the head as a single tube, some are stereoscopes that dont join until a small manifold entering the head.. so you could even plug the two tubes into a single pipe somehow and make it complete.

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It has got to be the tensioners -- a freewheeling floater, no torques and pressures. If it was driving anything but air or something soft -- like a long rubber timing belt, it would have revealed a break. The odd fact is that it has been making that noise for years through all weather, engine overheats, etc. I have learned that some very tight tolerance makes noise, doesn't mean it is bad, in the correct places. Ironically, I was sitting on the side of the road revving my car up when I first got it trying to guess what it was (this was over a year ago)... lo and behold a sedan 2wd sube with same color interior and exterior and body style went by with the same exact noise.. before this sube I had never heard it before, and then there goes one driving right by me :confused: (I would love to purchase that car from the old person I seem to see all over the place locally driving it -- it is my cars exact twin with a dented fender) :) .I will keep going with it for 30k more (timing belt due for change then) if no other excuse arises to take it all apart and put one of those timing belt kits in, that has tensioners and belts.

I was using wd 40 not as a permalube but to test the noise for a temporary stop. I only use wd40 for breaking free stuck stuff, real grease of some kind is a must do.I used white lithium grease at a quick lube years ago, every car that came back routinely, needed it again. I don't care for that stuff either, except putting an engine together (it simply disapears).Synthetic motor oil in a spray jug makes more sense than either wd or lithium :cool: .

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