High Pitched Whine?
 

Noticed a high pitched whine today on the highway. I was driving around 65-75mph. It's was raining if that matters. It was not a consistent whine but one that randomly kept happening. Really loud. Seemed to stop or lessen in volume when I let off the accelerator. I tried switching to neutral and going back to drive to see if that would fix it but the car felt like it lost power and then had to switch to a higher gear just to catch back up when I went back into drive. It's not the power steering pump - I just replaced that last week with a new one. Anyone have any suggestions?

Slipping alternator belt I would guess.

If you are in park and rev the engine, does it happen?

It was the serpentine belt. I know this because after writing this post I drove 1.5 hours back home. The belt snapped, the tib over heated, the engine coolant boiled/sprayed everywhere, and power steering died. I had to get towed home. It was a very bad day. Right now with my college classes I don't even have time to begin to fix this.



So it is what it is...but for future people finding this thread from Google...your belt is done lol.

Thanks for the follow-up and sorry about your car. I hope your car didn't overheat enough to warp the cylinder head. While you're in there, spin the water pump and alternator pulleys to make sure the belt didn't die because one of them was seized.

More follow up lol. Replaced the alternator belt and it immediately melted. Turns out the alternator seized up. Got a new one and now everything seems good. The water pump turns well. It is not whining anymore. So job done lol.



My next worry is the radiator. I did a flush and it seems like no one has EVER flushed this car in it's past and there was so much damn rust. Four or five flushes later and it was still coming out looking like rusty mud water. Hoping the radiator is alright and that the engine isn't so rusted in the inside where it's a problem.

Add a ground lead from the radiator to the chassis to prevent electrolysis in the future



I'll just pat myself on the back for the alternator call. Fortunately they're easy to replace.