I have this REALLY high pitched whine. It is almost inaudible. It only happens with the engine on, it does not vary with engine speed. It does seem to be electrical since when i turn on the headlights or try to roll up, already closed windows, the sound varies a little bit. I stuck my head by the alternator and could not hear any whine from it. What else is could it be? I absolutely cant figure out where it is coming from. Anyone have any ideas. I can deal with it if i have to, you have to listen for it to hear it, but I just thought i would give it a shot here.

 

maybe a bad ground somewhere

 

but why would it only make noise with the engine on then?

 

because of the increased resistance in the flow of electrical energy within your car.

 

i am an electrical engineer. i dont believe that resistance increases when the car is on. nor do i believe that an increased resistance would cause humming. where are you getting this from!? i think a bad ground could be on point, but then it should hum when the car is off too. it makes me think that something moving is at fault, or maybe something exhaust related, but that it does not change with engine speed baffles me.

 

check your brakes
when the brake pads go, they give off a whining sound as they scrape against the discs. that could be your problem.

 

Read his post and think again.

 

It IS the alternator. Mine went too. At first the sound was small so I couldn't pin point it to the ALT. Sounds like a small supercharger, right?

The only way to test is to dis-connect the belt and run the engine off the battery. The sound will dis-appear.

DW

 

yeah, thats what i was begining to think. but the sound seems like it is coming from the rear of the car or even inside the car, it is quietest in front of the car.

what happened to your alt? before and after.

 

I have the exact same thing. Yet I know this high pitched noise is from my audio system. When deck is on, the noise is there, when off its gone. When I build my system I had no noise, now it is there.

Would I be wrong to assume this is a ground issue, maybe one ground wire came loose?

 

mine is not audio related. i can hear it in and out of the car. stereo on or off.

 

The ALT began it's slow death. I let it go way too long, like 7 months. It got to the point that the battery was not charging properly. In fact, the car died about 1 /2 mile from my mechanic who was going to replace it

When it was replaced, it was like I got a new car! The voltage must have been low enough that everything was off kilter, ECU, O2 sensors, etc. The car had new life and a stronger top end with the new ALT.

DW

 

well, for now my voltages are good, but i will keep an eye out.

anyone know of some good high output alts, like 175+amp alts? I dont want to have to spend more than $250 for it.

 

I have the same whine changed the alt. and it is the compressor
When the whine occurs turn your a/c on and it will go away
sucks
just my 2 cents

 

interesting, too bad i have no ac now, no coolant from last summer because i have my 4th bad compressor... long story... not for now.

 

I have the same problem, before I got my TV, I just had a system and the noise was a high pitched sound, which would get a higher pitched as the RPMs got bigger (engine noise is what I think its called). I think its a bad ground wire somehwere, at least I thought, but all my grounds are connected correctly? Are there grounds that we are not suppose to have wires connected to? Now that I have my TV, whenever I want to play a DVD, the sound is louder, and when driving that high pitched noise drives me crazy, and of course i have lots of static, which I still dont know hwo to get rid of, what can we do about this high pitched noise? It only happens when teh speakers are one, when all audio is off, I hear nothing.

 

this is NOT alternator whine through the speakers.

 

I also have a whine in the engine bay. And it sort of gets a little louder if I rev the engine. Anyone know which belt it could be?

 

my whining was the compressor the bearing that the pulley runs on was bad you can check with a stethescope ($10 pep boys or autozone).

 

]

 

UPDATE:

i have all but localized the sound to be between the rear wheel wells. i have not lifted the rear end to listen. my guess is it is an exhaust leak that is whistling. but it could be electronic. what electronics are on the underside of the car that far back? the ABS stuff??? it sounds like it is from the middle of the car becuase i can hear it evenly from each rear wheel well.

 

i also have a whining in my car from time to time, it comes from the passenger seat out of the mouth of my girlfriend..

 

I too have recently noticed a high pitch, quiet whine... almost like a supercharger..but quiet. I can only hear it when I turn down the stereo... And it seems to only happen when I'm accelerating, as when my transmission (yes im automagic) shifts the noise changes.. Is anyone experience something similar to this?

 

alternater ,maybe

 

I've got the samething in my 5th gen. But it keeps on going on and off.

 

Sounds like an electrical problem to me, either a bad ground or the alternator.

 

me too, but why would it sound like its coming from the rear of the car, are there any ground points there?

i mean, grounds dont make noises though, only transformers do, thats all i can think of.

if it is electrical, i bet it is the alternator.