Has anyone here ever heard a noticeably whining sound from their VG30E at idle and when accelerating from a stop slowly? My checks show that no pullies are seized, although the belts are a few years old. The sound goes away once the car is cruising, but comes back on idle. Any ideas? Could it be possible more broken manifold studs can cause this noise?

 

It's like a whistle, almost.

 

Could be the power steering pump.....

 

My aftermarket intake sounds like that kinda

 

i've had 3 vg's and all have the whine. it is a constant whine, just harder to notice while cruising with other noises drowning it out. it sure does sound like a belt though, i would almost guess it to be the timing belt. i wouldn't worry too much about it, unless it's new or worsening.

 

Hmmm, yeah, I thought belt too, but my timing belt isn't due for another 15K miles. I think we're talking about the same whine. It almost sounds like a early to mid-1990s Pontiac Grand Am V6 whine on idle.

 

My mom's 92 GXE used to make some kind of a whistle when accelerating.

 

You know, I have been listening carefully to my whine. It only seems to be when the car is in motion. I will take it out of gear and rev and the whine won't get louder. But almost like the brakes are constantly rubbing. I don't know.

 

turn your radio off, totally off and see if you still hear the whine

 

Location.

Locate by listenin.

ScrewDriver on belt cover. Ear on handle. Listen.

Round teeth belt on squared sprockets: $tealership quality noise... (but that noise is always on after installation, low rpm)

 

i have only noticed that it whined under heavy acceleration. the only thing that i could come up with is that it is my cold air intake. odd thing is that everyone that hears it thinks a turbo spooling up. to be honest it does kinda sound like a turbo. maybe my noise is a diffrent one

 

Mine sounds like a Moped

 

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me too .

 

I know more than few people will probably disagree with this, but bear in mind I'm only relaying what I have personally noticed on my 2 Maximas...
I think the whine you're referring to is the timing belt. I think the factory teeth are either worn and not sitting deep enough (by micromeasurements...) in the cam sprockets.....OR......, what I have personally noticed....., you have an aftermarket belt with the square bottom teeth and this is causing the whine.
I've done 3 timing belts so far. The first one was an aftermarket belt and after it was installed it sounded like the engine had a supercharger whine - especially at idle or lower rpms.
The second one I did was just a couple weeks ago - replaced a factory Nissan belt with the same aftermarket belt from exactly the same place and guess what......, the car whined (but not as loud as a supercharger this time). I also put a new tensioner on this time, and that didn't help.
So after a phone call to my local Nissan dealer parts counter, I was told that it was the tooth shape that caused the whine. I order and installed the factory belt and guess what - the whine INSTANTLY went away.
Use a factory belt with the correct tooth profile and it shouldn't whine (in my experience...so far...).

 

Oh, and my friendly Nissan parts man also mentioned that I should make sure all the timing belt cover bolts were installed in their correct locations and tightened down well - otherwise the belt and cover could set-up a resonance that could be mistaken for a belt noise.
(I have no personal experience with this actually happening - just felt that it was possible, and therefor worth mentioning)

 

maybe that noise is because you got the wrong belt.
The aftermarket shows 2 styles of belts.

 

I also have a whining noise in my GXE, and it goes away if you turn on the defroster (compressor is engaged). I can hear it when I'm idling and defroster or AC is turned off. Not sure what it is. BTW, how do you check to see if pullies are seized?

 

sounds like the compressor pulley bearing, that's a different bearing than the compressor bearing BTW.
You'll probably have to find a complete compressor clutch if you're lucky. or a complete compressor <- big PITA.

 

Bryan, is this for me?

 

Internetautomar - that's entirely possible. I hadn't discounted that possibility and the Nissan parts guy even suggested as much. Point is, the tooth profile matters and using the flat-bottom profile has produced a whine both times for me. My dad gets a discount at a parts place, so both times I had him go get the belt for me... Now I know better tho - I'll make SURE I get the correct belt with the correct teeth if there's ever a 'next time' for this job.

 

yup .

 

Any idea on how much something like this will cost me? Also, what damage would I incur if I didnt fix it?

 

take off your A/C belt
if the noise goes away, leave it off while you saveup for a newcompressor

 

I have a used compressor f/s......

 

could also be the alternator itself. when they are under load, they will tend to make a whining noise.


could be many things... best thing to do it stick your head under the hood and listen.
remove drive belts one by one and see if/when the noise stops.

 

I agree with matt93se, alternator is the first thing that came to my mind with your symptoms, but it could be many things.

LOCO7: If you have the turbo sound theres a 90% chance that it's your radio!! My freinds i30 does that, it sounds JUST like a turbo spooling up, it even goes away when it shifts and starts coming back again when the rpm's climb. If it is the radio it's caused by incorrect grounding.

BEST TOOL EVER~~ Go to sears and get an 'automotive stechescope' It is the coolest tool ever and it works so much better than you can ever imagine! I used mine last week to diagnose my buddies ranger as having a bad injector, he bought it with a 'blown motor' haha, he replaced the one really noisy metallicy clanking injector that was louder than all the rest and now it runs champ.
It works so good that not only can you hear the injectors fire but you can actually hear the fuel flowing through them! well worth the money. Oh and the reason I finally had to buy one- to diagnose the alternator on my dad's tundra, the engine had a rough idle & had no nut, while holding the brakes at idle in drive, it would make a weird humm when the headlights were turned on, it would go away when they were turned off, I had someone turn the headlights on and off and sure enough the sound was coming from the alternator, weird huh? well it fixed the rough idle and lack of nut.

 

hold a screw driver up to a pulley with the car running, put your ear up to/on the screw driver and listen for a bad bearing, you should be able to hear it...that is how i diagnosed my problem and now it is gone...it was the idler pulley for my a/c (bad bearing) i paid $55 for the new pulley and bearing, that was the whole hting form the dealership....autozone and pep boys didnt carry them

 

When I bought the car, the seller told me that his mechanic recommended spraying wd-40 on the belts and that would make the noise go away. Something about the belts being too tight. I have changed the alternator, Timing belts and all the other belts, so I was leaning towards the compressor being the problem. What do you guys think??

 

my car makes the same exact whine as what you guys are talking about but my speakers also make an annoying whining noise probly cuz I have a JVC headunit on the bose amps lol. But yeah I am assuming that it is one of the belts. I do not think it is the alternator because I just changed my alternator and the whining/whistling noise is still there.

 

Been several weeks since I posted this and the car still runs fine. It comes and goes, but is most prominent in gear. I'm gonna replace the drive belts this weekend to see if it goes away.

Thanks for the suggestion shvelle. I know better than to buy aftermarket parts when it comes to engine parts, and replaced the water pump, tensioner and timing belt with Nissan parts. But meh, old cars are bound to give you little issues here and there, I'm not too concerned. I will try the screwdriver trick though. Does this have to be a screwdriver with a plastic handle? I have screwdrivers with the gel handles (for extra grip).

 

i heard that noise for a long time, i took it to my mechanic the other day. he said something about the distributer. i come back in the afternoon, he said the noise isn't a biggy, but he replaced my radiator. then my dad gave me a lecture about how the car is old and i should be gentle with it

 

Yeah I just Bought mine Last week and Immediatly Picked up (heard) whine noise and the previous owner said it allways had it? i was like what the heck? cars are not supposed to whine like that... I am tempted to believe its the belt to teeth fitting. on the timing belt ... it makes sence at least to me anyway

 

Depends on u ear size. Handle end onto ear, less pain. Steel rod onto helmet is best

Wrong Belt may be diagnosed by opening belt cover top or by the noise: Let it whine, if listenin doesnt hurt u spine.

 

My old bose had a whine sound.

 

its the secret super charger nissan put in the trunk. Look for it and you will find it. I had pics of it but cant seem to remember where i placed them

 

Hmmm, update on my whine, gentlemen. I took off my AC belt yesterday, and whine was still there....the whining sound starts when I put the tranny into D on mornings to drive off, and sometimes at idle I can feel vibrations on the steering wheel. The whine goes away after a long drive until I park the car and then put it in N or P.

So I did the next best thing just now; I replaced all 3 belts with Nissan OEM belts. The sound is still there, grrrrr.

All the pullies spun freely except for the water pump pulley and power steering pump pulley - however, I think these pullies are normal and that they are supposed to not spin very freely. All pullies were tight too when I wiggled them. I would have to guess that maybe, just maybe, I broke another exhaust manifold stud or two and the sound gets worse at idle or light load. Blah.

 

Oil mfg has 30k mile warranty for A/T oil. Have u got more miles than that?

Howto swap http://www.cardomain.com/ride/748507/24

 

Oh definitely more miles. I am very paranoid about my tranny, and do the routine drain and fill 3 times a year with Nissan ATF only. I changed the ATF last week to prepare for another Canadian winter, but no matter what, whine is still there. I'm not too concerned. Old cars do odd things and make odd sounds; if the car breaks down on the road, it breaks down and I'll deal with it then. Timing belt, water pump and tensioner to be replaced in another 7500 mi, maybe around spring time 2006. Thx.

 

Whine itself doesnt kill.

As I bought a teen opel, didnt know its tranny was dry. Drove 400km's home, and during that, its M/T started to whine. Decided to swap oil... but nothing to change! Ok, fill in, and add insulation. 5yrs later, still kicking with the 4th gear noise...