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Whining

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Anyone got an idea what this whining racket is coming from? It appears to be mostly at drivers side. I have had it a while now and just recently got the timing done but it still exists and mechanics said all was fine.

 



I can't really hear anything from that video lol 

Does it whine when the car is stationary or when driving?  Whining when stationary indicates its an issue with the drive belts and tensionsers.  If its while driving could be gearbox bearings, wheel bearing, drive shaft support bearing etc

when i did the timing belt on my previous fiesta it started making a strange noise a couple of days later mainly on tickover, not sure if it was a whine. I took the top cover off the belt so I could see the timing belt running. I could see it vibrating really badly which is what the noise was.  I slackened off the tensioner just a tad (which involved a fair bit of work to access it) and it was fine after that (my brother now has the car and it was over 40k  miles ago I did that).

which engine do you have (mine was 1.6tdci)

  • Author

It's 1.6 petrol does it for a while when started then calms down but then makes whistle noises when driving about. Although doesn't affect anything but it's a minter.

  • Author

I sprayed water on the auxiliary belt and the noise kind of fades keep thinking it's the altenator but my hearing is bad. The best I can describe the sound is like squeaking brakes but like it's in a hall kind of echo like and it changes pitch.

Were the aux belts changed when the timing belt was done?  They're stretchy so not really reusable.

I can hear something in the video but it sounds more like a grinding bearing than belt squeal so you could be right about the alternator. 

  • Author

The garage said the pump and everything was checked out OK so just went for the timing belt as they are separate. Not long ago I had to replace the original battery do you think the old one might of caused strain to the alternator?

The waterpump is separate but the aux belts needed removing for access to the cambelt.  If they reused old belts they can be loose and squeaky.  If they fitted new belts it can put extra strain on pulley bearings, so it might mean the waterpump/alternator/AC bearings are now a bit rough under the extra strain.

When I changed the aux belt on my diesel, the belt tensioner then broke under the strain of the new belt and squealed until I replaced it.  

I don't think a low battery would strain the alternator.   

  • Author

The noise existed before any change I was hoping it would be gone but no dice I will contact the garage and see if they can check it out and thanks for your input very helpful :)

No worries.  Best thing to do would be try running the engine with the aux belts off.  If the noise is still there that rules out the belts, pulleys, alternator etc.  If the noise goes it has to be one of them.  

Just one more thought if it's been there for so long, it could be the fuel pipes  On the old 306 HDis, the fuel lines vibrated and made a weird wooing noise similar to yours, Peugeot added a 'suppressor' to them for later models to keep them quiet lol.  I've no idea if any Focus' were affected by that but it's a possibility if the noise isn't belt related.

  • Author

Would it be easy enough to remove the belt on the roadside? I know it's a socket on the tensioner then the belt slips off is it easy enough to route back on? Also was that fuel line noise accompanied with a whistle on slowing down?

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