video: 1999 maxima with > 200k miles, driven in NY now in long island

for the last 2 weeks I have had an intermittent humming noise as heard above originating from the front passenger side of the car.

last 5 months: the blower motor / fan would make a loud constant sound that was proportional to the speed of the fan, higher the fan setting the louder the noise

last 2 weeks: at idle I would intermittently have the symptoms seen in the video above. This would happen during individual drives, if I started the car it was as if I had a 50/50 shot of this idle noise happening (or not happening) for the whole duration of that drive.

last 1 week: If I hit a pothole (at any speed) I would hear a constant high pitched whirring sound that was proportional to the rpms displayed in the tach. the faster I drove (high rpm) the higher pitched the sound would be, it would be present on acceleration only and would go away once I hit another pothole (low speed <30 mph). this sound is different from the video above but also originated from the front passenger side.

today: leaving for work at 6:30 am I found that the pulsating idle drone noise (as in the video above) became associated with the power of the car. during idle at the peak of the sound the electrical components died down and then would regain power during the trough of the sound. it was as if my stereo dash and clock were rhythmically timed with the noise. the car never died and upon acceleration the sound went away and the power came back without issue.

coming back home at 10:30 am I found that the car had no issue whatsoever, no idle noise, no rhythmic pulsating power change, no whirring sounds after a pothole or two.

I'm pretty sure the blower motor is a separate issue as with the hood up I could hear the sound originating from the engine bay (ill put up a video if the sound comes back on). the only difference I appreciated that effected change in the car has been the temperature outside as in the am and last couple weeks it has been very cold and today is the first day we have 50 degree weather.

I hope someone out there can help.

 

Video is private

 

sorry, should be fixed now

 

so driving to work today the abs and check engine light came on and stayed on. I made it to work. on the way back in addition to the abs and check engine light the airbag and seatbelt lights started flashing. the car died 5 miles from the aaa mechanics shop. needed it fixed asap. I told him the alternator went and as I suspected the alternator was the culprit. $600.00, I expected the 300 dollar alternator upsale price but figured 1-2 hours for the repair which was actually billed as 3 hours. all in all, I found the answer to my question. just wish I knew earlier, could've saved about 300 bucks. battery seems to have made it ok but will have to see how the next couple drives go, will put the jumper cables in the car for now.


edit: They put a toughone alternator in the car, and some stupid message from one of the workers on the invoice saying "customer refused new battery, alternator not covered if battery drains alternator" because I refused a new 200 dollar AAA battery and instead kept my mtp24f interstate battery (as the owner of the shop recommended)

 

so the alternator went out and that solved your noise? dam so many alternators in the forums going out recently haha!

but glad u got rid of the noise and got ur car back up running

 

Funny how the starters and alternators that I've seen fail in the past year have been built or rebuilt in China or somewhere in southeast Asia.