Ok...a little over a week ago now I noticed a strange whining noise coming from my car when it was in park and neutral. I figured it was the transmission, which was rebuilt in Nov. 2001. Before having the transmission looked at, I had the belts removed to make sure it wasn't the alternator, which is on its way out. The noise was still present. Then I had the transmission looked at. The first tech said it didn't sound like it was coming from the tranny. I took it to another shop for a second opinion, and he also said that the noise wasn't coming from the tranny. The guy listened with a stethoscope and said it sounded loudest in the exhaust system. Then, to make sure it wasn't a vacuum line leaking, I took it to a shop that had just replaced my power brake booster and had them look at it. They couldn't figure out where it was coming from, but didn't have time to get it in the air.

SO....that pretty much cancels out:
-alternator
-transmission
-rear end (whines while stopped in park and neutral - doesnt even sound like a rear end whine anyways)
-vacuum lines

What is left? I've taken it to 5 shops to no avail. I'm stumped.

More info on the noise:
It's fairly quiet on the driver's side, but can be heard easily on the passenger side, near the exhaust line, as well as in the front passenger side wheel well. It's loud in P and N. Whines in reverse when accelerating(much more than normal), but stops when not moving, and is subtly noticeable in all drive gears. Cycles up and down with RPMs, but pretty much stays the same pitch. It's a low-pitched whining, almost like a humming noise.

I'm running a rebuilt 305 TPI with a rebuilt 700r4.

Any help is appreciated!

-Anthony Helton

 

Check for a cracked pipe in the exhaust, or a bad checkvavle on the AIR tubes, and the tubes themselves..

 

when i lowered my car something hit my airtube and pinched it off and it would make a whinging sound. so u pulled my airpump and the whine went away. that might not be your problem though

 

Thanks for the replies. One other thing I almost forgot:
There is definitely a decrease in throttle response as well.

-Anthony Helton

 

Pull the belt off of the air pump and see if it stops. Mine did pretty much the same thing about a year ago and stopped when I replaced it.

 

The air pump was just put on, but I can hear that the bearings already sound bad in it. I guess in order for it to cycle up with RPMs it has to be something belt driven. Right?

 

Check your cooling fan. My buddies whines on his 92RS