I have this high pitch whine coming from my engine bay, in the area of the belts. Its not a belt though, I know that sound. Its just a really high pitch noise and it only comes on when at a dead stop. Either when im in gear or not. It will come on for a while then go back off, with no real reason. So, it does it at idle, around 700 rpm and and if you give it any gas at all above around 900rpm it goes away, but comes back when the rpm's drop.

Well I hope I described it enough.. any help?

 

altenator dying out? lights dimming at all or anything?

 

is it a super charger? hahah j/k

 

I have considered it being the alternator.. but wanted to get more opinions. Yeah my lights dim, but I figured that would be the battery's fault.

 

My 99 makes a similar noise in the area of the accessory pulleys. It never really goes away at higher rpms, just the noise of the engine obscures it a little. I was thinking that it may be a tensioner pulley starting to seize up a little, and making that high pitch squeal. You may have a similar problem, then again I could be way off track.

 

I think your problem is different. Because it only comes at idle and it goes away immediately with a slight rise in rpm. It also will come back once the rpm's drop back to idle.

 

i have exact same problem, only when my foots completely off the gas and a/c is off. hmmm i duno

 

could either be the ac compressor or alternator starting to go bad

 

At first I thought it was the timing belts...

But then when things in the engine bay started to smell funny, right around the belts, before I heard about the recalls I knew it was the alternator. So now I'm waiting for Monday to get mine replaced. And let me tell you, shift_withdrawal sucks.

-95SE

 

we don't have timing belt,we got timing chain.

 

if your lights dim when you stop and get brighter when you rev,then it sound like your alternator is going bad,better take it to auto zone for a charging system test for FREE before it kill your car on the road.

 

I HAVE THE SAME PROBLEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL
I'll tell ya exactly what it is. It's your alternator. Do you notice it only squeeling when ur headlights are on? Well if no you will eventually get there. But, try replacing your alternator belt, won't cost you much. If you can do it youself GREAT it will be basically free. If that don't help then change your alternator but it's DEFINITLY that.

 

I have the same problem too! I've noticed that noise comes more often right after running the engine over 4500rpm while driving. And it was doing it at idle only, when waiting at a light for example. I was thinking that it was the water pump, because after changing coolant that noise went away for about a year. Also I thought that water pump was making that noise, because when I changed coolant for the first time I used tab water instead of distilled in the mix. But who knows for sure may be it is the alternator.

 

i did all the charging stuff at autozone and everything checked out...im saying it might just be the belts, is this the serpentine belt?

 

I'll bet you a pepsi its the alternator.

 

Ok, so we've narrowed it down to the alternator. Now what to do? My year (95) doesn't fall under the recall.. so where should I buy a new one? Should I buy a more high powered one since I have a system and tv, and power inverter for the dreamcast and things? I'll need a new battery too I think..

 

Definitely the alternator. Had the same whine and when I got my alternator replaced under recal it went away.

 

I have a high pitched sound coming from my engine, but I think its actually from my intake because it only happens at a certain throttle postion for a given RPM.

 

Where is the picture in your sig taken?

 

are you guys sure its not just a need to tighten the belts or get a new one? Because it comes from the area around the alternator but there is this lil pulley next to it that doesnt look like its attached to anything and that one seems to be ever so slightely off axis wiggling back and forth a little bit. The fact that the sound would go away with the change of the alternator could be the fact that the belt was changed or retightened. Just throwin out ideas. is this the tensioner pulley?

 

just took it to nissan for this problem they changed my belts and the problem is gone.

 

I took it to Autozone for them to test it, but they said it was charging fine, but that the noise might be the bearings?

 

well damn changed belts and noise went away for 3 days and know it is back.
any thoughts

 

You should take it back and tell them that what they did didn't work and you want your money back.. or something..

 

You might want to check the belts and see if they've stretched at all.

 

so if you have the whine and its the alternator should it test bad? I have the whine, but just tested the alternator last week at advance and it was fine....so if its the bearings that are causing the noise should the alternator test normal until the bearings cause a failure? Or if my alternator tests fine should I assume water pump instead?

 

changed my alternator and that was some of it
My compressure makes some of of the noise still but no where as loud
are often

 

I have had this noise on and off. It is very strange. I have replaced the belts. Seal when I put on my UDP. I have even run the car with the belts off....still get the noise. My next step was going to be check the vacuum lines (the cars vacuum is diff at idle). But the car is not making he noise right now (knock on wood).

So before you spend the $$$ on a new alternator try running the car with the belts off.

 

I'll bet a case of pepsi it's the tensioner pulley. Spray some WD-40 on it while it's running (use the little red tube) and if it gets real quite, you know what to do.