My engine's been pretty noisy for the past few months. This weekend, I think I nailed down the location of the noise to the serpentine belt tensioner pulley...the pulley between the alternator and the crank pulley, more or less. The noise I'm getting is a continuous whine. It's definitely not coming from a belt (not a squeal).

I'm just curious if anyone else here has had this tensioner pulley go bad on them before and had to replace? Any other experiences that might indicate it's not that pulley but something else?

 

I had that problem. it the tensioner pulley. the bearings inside the pulley went bad so i had to change it. nothing major

 

Cool! Thanks! Out of curiosity, how much was the pulley? I'm anticipating something around $50. Correct?

 

Keven - I have a similar whinning noise I haven't be able to find the source. I originally though my power steering pump was going but it checked out. I will look at my tensioner pulley this weekend. You can call Courtesy Nissan, they have some of the best prices.

 

I was just wondering--is it a "high pitched whining noise?" The reason is that I am asking is that I get that whining noise once in awhile when there is a lot of moisture in the air or the next morning after it rains.

I am not sure it is the same problem that you guys are having, and I'd like to make sure. The noise that is in my car goes away in a few minutes after the car has been warmed up.

I was also wondering how many miles you guys have in your cars? Mine has 32K and I am not sure if this whining noise is just due to the moisture or if this is an indicator that the bearing is starting to go bad?

 

Yes, I have a high pitched - although not super high-pitched - whine. It occurs at all times irregardless of weather conditions or warm/cold state of the engine. It's just always there and annoying.

Dan Martin gave a really good tip a week or so ago for locating the source of the noise. Get a 3/4" rubber (coolant) hose, put one end up to your ear. Probe the engine with the other end to locate the source of the noise. This may help you the next time you hear that noise. For me, it was fairly obvious that the tensioner pulley was the culprit.

 

My sound is low pitch almost like a humming sound. High pitch sounds sometimes are bearings. With my case it sounds like some accessory is straining. In reality its really hard to guess because there are so many moving parts under to hood. I will try the tube trick to isolate the sound. I think that's our best bet.

 

Glad to hear the listening aid led you to the source of the noise. Coolant hose will work, but my preferred hose is small diameter rubber vacuum hose. It is inexpensive, thin, and flexible.

 

Keven. Sometimes but not all the time, you can take out the tensioner assembly and remove just the bearings. They should be just a std bearing that you can get anywhere. The bearing p/n should be on the bearing itself. You might have to press the bearing out but I'm not 100%. Matt93gxe has doen this I think. If you can do this, it's alot cheaper than buy the whole assembly from Nissan.

 

If you indeed replace the pulley/bearing, do yourself a big favor and remove the adjusting not and apply a generous amount of anti-seize compound on the threads. I did routine maintenance on my (changed the belts) and went to loosen the adjusting nut and the damm thing broke cause it was so corroded. Hope you don,t have this problem when removing the old one. You can even fill the hole up with grease and you won,t do any harm at all.

 

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I have the same high pitched noise in my max. I had a mechanic work on the car he said the noise was comming from the tensioner. He let me listen to the varoius areas of the engine and I agreed that he was right. Anyway tensioner replaced and no diff, still have the noise. Since the car was run with the belts off we eliminated the accessories. He is going to check the timing belt tensioners next. Kevin97se if you find out how to fix this please let me know.

Chris

 

how about simply moisture on the belts or pulleys. WHen there is water moisture on any of these items, doesn't or can't this be a cause to the high pitch noise? I know for example in my car, once it has been turned on for a few minutes the noise disappears and I assume that is because the belts have dried up?

or this is not true?

 

Not the case since the car makes the noise without the belts on the car

 

At 75k on a 97. Its going in Friday for brakes and I will mention this.

 

Great--if you can find out and inform us what the mechanic (is this dealer/ non-dealer service place)says-that would be excellent--and educational for all of us.

thnanks bernie. I am very curious as to what this noise is. How long have you been getting this noise for now? i only got it this winter--haven't heard it all of last year and since I bought it in 10/99--which is a year and half ago.

 

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I have the same prob on my 98. I only get it when it's below freezing and/or after a rain. I am glad you guys got this thread going cause I had it traced to the alternator. WHEW! Thanks!!!

 

Mike--
If I read your response correctly, you said that you had it traced to the alternator? is that what you intended to say or you had "THOUGHT" that it was an alternator problem but now that we have started this thread, you think it is just the moisture thing.

how many miles do you have on your car.

Btw, I have the exact problem when it is very cold out or when it is damp...guess it is something to do with the belts.
=)

 

I also had noise coming from the belt area once, I was afraid it was something serious, because it made a loud, bad squealing. I put a little bit of A-jax or Comet on the belts and the noise stopped right away. I think it cleans the junk out of the belts. It worked for me, worth a try.