Hi All, I've been reading and learning for a long time now but this is finally my first post. Name's Tony and I'm in north Jersey with a silver 02 CL-S and a gold 06 TL.

I've tried searching and have found other similar posts but no solutions that I think apply to this problem I'm having. My problem car's an '02 Cl-S with about 164k miles on it. I recently had the trans rebuilt this past January and then again in June when it somehow lost all the fluid while traveling down the parkway. Well ever since I got the car back in June the trans has been great. Strong quick shifts, nice and smooth with no problems. The problem I'm having is when I first start the car up it will randomly make a whining/buzzing noise from the front end. Kind of like a circular saw sound. It eventually fades out but if I keep it in park and rev it above 2k RPM the sound comes back and gets higher pitched as the RPMs go up. I can't figure out what this noise is and it doesn't happen all the time. I had the car at the trans shop the last couple days and they can't figure it out either. They don't think its coming form the trans but they don't know for sure. I'm guessing this can absolutely anything but was hoping someone else on here came across something similar before and knows what this is.

Sorry for the long post but wanted to detail everything out. Any and all help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
- Tony

 

I should also add the trans guy said when he was under the hood when he pulled the throttle cable he could hear a "pssst" of air followed by the buzzing sound. He said the pssst of air would continue, not a continuous stream of air but bursts of air, and the buzzing sound wouldn't always follow. He wasn't sure if this was normal and I'm not either. Let me know what you guys think. Thanks again.

 

Turn your A/C off and test again. That will eliminate the A/C compressor.

PS pump usually makes more of a whine than a buzz, so I don't think it's that.

It sounds like maybe a tensioner pulley or something.

 

Thanks Karanx, I got the car back last night and was listening to it for a bit with the AC off. Seems like there's always a very low buzzing coming from behind and below the air intake. Can really only hear it when you get close to it but I'm thinking this could be where the louder noise comes from when revving the engine. I don't hear the loud buzzing when driving, only when its in park and I rev the engine.

 

OP said "whining/buzzing," so it might still be PS pump?
I have a 'gear-type' whining that starts at about 2k and goes up in frequency with the revs that's been getting louder over the past 20k miles, and I'm hoping it's the PS pump and not the AT. Other people can't really hear it or think it's normal...

 

Noise is still there. I'm pretty sure it isn't the PS pump. When I'm under the hood and pull the throttle cable the noise is coming from below and right of the engine. When it warms up the noise goes away. Didn't use my car for a few days and when I started it up the noise was real loud and lasted about a minute or so. Usually it's only there when I rev it to 2k but this time it was upon startup. Getting really frustrated with it.

 

Have a mechanic or someone check your steering rack. My 02 CLS had a slight whine, and the pitch of it increased with the RPM's, and my steering rack needed to be replaced. Hopefully that isn't your problem since its expensive to fix, but you never know!

 

mine makes a whinning noise too and i found out its the bottom bolt of the alternator is stripped so my pulleys are at an angle and i keep breaking alternator brakets