This time its for my girl's 97 HX, not my 96.

97 HX w/ 186K, manual trans

She has this whine for some time now, we've finally figured out how to duplicate it. It ONLY happens when the car is around 3K RPMS, does not matter what gear the car is in, and thats it. Never any other time. It is fairly faint on flat roads to the point of hardly noticeable, but coming down some mountain roads it is louder - almost kinda sounds like when your brakes are worn and the rotors and hitting metal - but not as loud.

Only other problem is that sometimes the car bogs down a little when starting in first gear. Not bad, hardly happens at all but it does. Her clutch is in better shape than mine, and mine doesnt make this noise or have these symptoms at all.

Any ideas?

 

You might want to check your heat shields. If they are loose, sometimes they will only rattle or whine at certain RPM's.

 

Thanks...yeah, we already took care of that on both of ours. Just put a clamp around the shield to keep it from rattling.

Any other ideas? She is now also getting this funny smell from her engine, but its not a burnt clutch smell. It is (the smell) aggravated by running the engine at higher RPMS, such as when driving up a long hill...

 

I'm not sure what you mean by "whine" but my car has what sounds like a vaccum leak that comes and goes.
Last summer it would happen maybe once or twice a month and was only noticeable when I got close to 3k rpm, about when I would shift to the next gear. If I floored it the sound of engine drowned it out above 3k. I replaced the PCV valve and it seemed to fix it.
It has since come back and is noticeable anywhere above 2k rpm, even at full throttle.
It may actually be two different sounds as before the car ran the same with or without the noise, now the revs seem to drop a tiny bit faster when I hear it which can cause a few jolts when shifting before I adjust.
I'm under the impression that it's a pulley/it's bearing going out.... now that I think about it, maybe it's my alternator. Wow, I type a bit too much at times

If your gf's symptoms are similar to my problem last summer you could check for vaccum leaks and maybe just replace the PCV valve just in case since they're cheap and better safe the sorry on that.

 

Thanks for the info Ra005e -

How do you easily check for vacuum leaks?

And what happens if the PCV valve does go (Never had on a car until now).

Hmm my Civic makes a whine now too, though it is different than hers. THAT sounds more like a vacuum leak maybe, it increases with intensity then drops off with RPMs - kinda like when you put an open intake on your car, except mine is not...

Thanks

 

does the "whine" happen when theres no load on the engine? Stand outside the car and rev it up with the throttle body, if it is a vacuum leak, u should be able to hear where its coming from. As for replacing a pcv, u can pick one up from walmart for like 5 bux, and its as simple as pulling the hose off and putting the hose on the new one. the easiest way to test a pcv is to pull it off and shake it. if you hear a rattle inside, it means its good. But whos to say that the seal on the pcv isnt bad?

 

This is a little different from everyone else’s explanation, but I think it could be alternator whine.

 

I've never done this myself but I believe you can spray carb cleaner(?) around the vaccum lines, basically just around the engine, and if the revs jump at all you've got a leak.

This may be more common on some makes than on others but in some cases a plugged/broken pcv valve can result in the engine's seals being blown out, since the crankcase pressure can't escape. Sometimes that happens, others it just causes oil consumption (past piston rings) and/or the pressure gets by the dipstick.
When replacing it, I found it helps to use a vice grip to pinch the clamps while you remove/refit the hose. This is especially true on my car since the pcv valve is located under the the fuel injectors(maybe same on yours), more likely to give you scraped knuckles than on most cars.

I sort of have an open intake on my civic, stock filter box and so on to the engine but none of the tubing that draws air to the filter or the resonator 'box' that comes on the car from the factory. It doesn't cause any sort of whine, sounds 99% normal unless you give it more than 1/2 throttle.

Anyway, I think VortechIntegra may be onto something with alternator whine. I don't really know anything about that though so I'll have to look into it.

 

Thanks for all the replies...Guess I've got some work for me this weekend.

As for the alternator whine, I'm assuming maybe yall mean the pulley attached the alternator, not the alternator itself? I have replaced pulleys on older trucks that I've had, but more so as a preventive measure...

I'll look into it, should replace the PCV valves on both of our cars anyway since it has never been done, at least to my knowledge.

thanks

 

OK, just to follow up, I looked alt whine up back on the 30th but didn't have time to respond 'till now.
It's when you hear a whine through the speakers due to the alternator. Either because of a poor ground, short, something like that, I don't really remember.
Anyway, that isn't the problem on my car and if you don't hear the noise through the speakers, that's my impression, it also doesn't apply to your car(s).
I assumed that VortechIntegra was referring to a whine from the engine bay either from the alternator itself or the pully, same as you were thinking, which may in fact be a possible cause but not what they were referring to.