I have an 04 TL AT with 55K miles on it. I recently noticed a whining sound that is coming from the engine. The sound is present when in Park or when in gear. The whine follows the engine rpm. It sounds like I have an electric motor While driving with the windows closed, it is not very noticable. I am not experiencing any drivability issues, no AT shifting issues/slippage. The engine is well maintained with synthetic oil changes per MID. The car runs fine otherwise. Before I send it to mechanic, I would like to get some opinions/expereince from fellow owners. TIA.

 

^^^ post a video man !!! will be able to guess bettter

 

Turn the radio off. Does the whine go away?

 

The radio is off. The whine/noise is coming from the engine compartment. Loudest when the hood is open.

 

alternator. And i wish the wine sounded more like a s/c like my cuzins buick park avenau with a 3800 series 2 engine

 

Air leak?
I have one... It starts going away when I go WOT.

 

Someone sold you a bad supercharger.

 

Drivebelt.. either a worn belt, bad bearing, a/c clutch, bad tensioner or corrosion on your pulleys. With the car off, check the belt for wear on the teeth or any splits, check the alternator housing and a/c compressor for belt smoot on the housing, rub the pulleys and make sure they're smooth not abrasive. Grab each pulley and try to wobble them to check for any play.. in the mean time a cheap can of belt dressing will quiet it down, just spray it on the pulleys while it's off, then turn the car on and spray the pulleys until it quiets down.. Definitely get it checked out though.. hate for your drivebelt to snap on you.

 

Exact same problem, 2004 TL started whining at 70K. Definately in the drive belt system since it times with the RPM. Thought it might be the alternator, but just got off the phone with a dealer parts dept who said they replace a lot of tensioners because of whining. Since the alternator is $300 and the tensioner is $80 (Autozone) I'm going to start with the tensioner.

 

An independent garage fixed the problem for me. He replaced the bearing on the tentioner. My PS does make occasional noise (different sound than the bearing problem I had). I had the PS recall done about a year ago now. The PS noise had happened twice in 3 months and normally disappears after 5 to 7 miles of driving. PS fluid level is good and no obvious signs of leak. Both times, the PS noise was in the morning.

 

^^^ dude i can almost bet money that the o-ring in PS system is missing. When they did the recall they didnot put the o-ring back in (not on purpose.....LOL).....

 

No way for me to know unless I do the "operation".

 

exactly my point....u dont even need to do the operation.....when i encountered the noise i took it to the dealership or i definitely can call them the STEALER-ship in this scenario.....

they told me the PS pump was bad....and i dont do anything before searching on Acurazine....so i did the search.....went back to the dealer.....COMMANDED them to put the o-ring there.....and wallah no noise

 

I second (third) the guess that it could be the alternator. It can be caused by an overtensioned belt, btw, which over time will damage the alternator. Can also be caused by an alternator that's getting ready to die. Sometimes if you smell near the alternator while the car is running, a bad one will have a particular smell. Kind of like burning marshmallows, but not quite.

Some whine when they're about to die, and some start whining and don't die for months or years. I'd check the belt tension and then wait for it to die, myself.

 

Yeah.. they're known to go out.. It's a cheap fix, I hope they didn't charge you a lot.

The problem with the PS whine isn't that they forgot to put it in.. it's that the old o-ring is contracting in the cold and isn't sealing properly so it's letting air into the system. If you start it up on a cold morning, open your hood and you should see bubbles coming up from the PS reservoir. The fix is easier than changing your oil. You need to order a new o-ring, it'll be orange and it'll cost you about ten cents. Remove the inlet hose to your PS pump by removing the 10mm bolt, and swap out the o-rings. Make sure you put some shop towels down over the drivebelt to keep any PS fluid from getting on it. Replace the inlet side & bolt and you're done. I have a video DIY I made for this.. I can post it later if you need help.

 

10 Cents? Stealership hosed me for an entire 2 bucks!.... It was easy to do though.

 

$2?! doesn't surprise me though. I call around now and do a bidding war to get the lowest price otherwise I shop online.. glad you got it fixed!