Name that engine whistle!

Ok I've been searching and found the threads on whistles, whales and other noises. I think I've narrowed it down to some sort of clutch issue. I thought it was pulleys, but I lubed them up and did the no belt test. I realized today that the noise is coming from the front of the engine (between the transmission and engine). I thought it might have been the AOS, but there's no real suction on the oil cap and it doesn't noticeably affect the idle, or kill the engine by removing the cap. At the 0:55 mark of the video, I'm depressing the clutch in and out and it seems to change the whistle. So I'm guessing clutch, which I know need to be replaced soon, (now sooner than later). It's a cold start and that's the condensation coming from the pipes. as well as the air pump still running. And it's was raining here yesterday so the cars dirty. We don't get rain here often so when it rains we take the cars out! What say you? 1999 996

The car is whining because you take it to the canyons too much! ;-)

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If noise affected by depressing clutch pedal then noise almost certainly coming from clutch, probably release bearing. I could barely hear noise change and wouldn't have had you not mentioned you were in the car working clutch pedal at 55 seconds into clip. With my head up close to speakers and concentrating I could barely make out "whistle". 1999 996. Car is going on 10 years old, maybe 11. How many miles? Original clutch, release bearing? How is car driven, treated? Do not like to hear/read pulleys being lubed. Accessory drives are sealed and do not require any lubrication and in fact any lube can get on belt and cause problems. Belt should not be treated with any "belt dressing" either. A clutch job alot of money to spend based on a diagnosis from a video audio clip. How is noise when engine/drivetrain up to temperature? Same? Less? More? Remember cars just get noisier when it gets colder and the noise may be nothing more than that. Absent a more definitive symptom or clearer indications something truely amiss I'd suggest living with the noise for a while and seeing that turns up. Of course, should engine start to exhibit untoward behavior at idle or at any other time, best to shut off engine and get car to a qualified shop for diagnosis. Sincerely, Macster.

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Well the car has 55K miles on it, I bought it at 38,000. I drive it basically on weekend, and I drive it hard. But all the services are complete, in addition to oil changes between services. Everything is always topped up and I normally go through the car once and a while to see if there's anything out of place. The noise did go away (I think) when the car heated up but only after quite some time driving. UPDATE:I'm up loading another video after it has driven for a while. The whistle starts at 1500 rpm everytime. Still changes when pushing the clutch in and out. I will most likely keep running it until the noise gets louder. I'm assuming that it's the original clutch, it has slipped before but when I had pushed it too hard. I don't think that tranny's been cracked open at all. As for the pulleys, they were removed and some WD40was used to see if there was a change in how they rolled. The were cleaned up prior to reinstalling them. I'm guessing clutch, but we'll see down the road, I was hoping that this was a unique sound that someone could identify. Thanks for your input.

Tuff call but changing the tranny oil change could not hurt. The throw out bearing is not spinning when in neutral so should be out of the picture.

It's really hard to hear anything like that on a youtube video. But I think I know exactly what you are trying to describe. I was also sniffing around for that very high-pitch whine in my engine compartment. Doesn't sound like anything "bad" but it does make me curious enough. It sounded like it was coming from the area around the pulley/alternator area.

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That's what I orignally thought and would swear by it but then walked by the wheel wells and heard it much more louder. I've added another video from under the car.....It's gotten progressively worse ever time I drive it, however, that's maybe three times in four weeks and it's gotten progressively colder here too.... You can definitely hear it at 1:06 on the second video...I can hear it on laptop speakers so I know it's loud.

I had the same whine I swear, changing the tranny oil to Swepco 210 while thinking of swapping the clutch solved the problem - its been about a year now.. never came back LINK listen to mine

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I read that link earlier this morning and was bummed that the links to the youtube videos were broken! But you have the same noise. I guess I'll start with the tranny oil change. It has been increasingly harder to shift so maybe this will kill two birds. Unless a month from now I see a post from you talking about some epic clutch failure....

I had the transmission fluid changed last year, together with the front differential service as well. Mine's a high-pitch whine, almost like a piece of metal grinding on a high-speed grinding wheel.

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Yes that seems different it honestly sounds like a whistle in mine. I know metal on metal, cavitation and others this is definitely a whistle. I hope your metal grinding isn't going to be too $$$.

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And Arnee, how much is too much? Really, you need to get out there more!

Does it ever stop, after some time, or is it always making the noise?

Take off the belt and see if the sound goes away. I think it's a idler pulley or alternator bearing going bad. Rick 99 996C4 87 944S

No way... its exactly what I had..... I dont know what is causing it but I know mine went away after a tranny fluid swap...

Mine did the same noise 2x in the last couple of weeks. 103K on original clutch. Its very sporadic, but I did have the tranny/diff oil changed at its last service 8 months ago at 95k. Yet, the noise started about 2 weeks ago. I was thinking more towards alternator starting to go, or perhaps water pump, but I'm no mechanic.

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Is the throw out bearing really not spinning? I would figure it would. Yes when it gets warm but it can still show up while the cars warm. It'll end up having short irregular whistles Done that and the noise was still there. I first thought it was something in the back but after chasing it a little more I realized it was coming from the point where the tranny and engine meet.

I would post the video also on renntech.org. The moderator is pretty good on diagnosing.

I think water pump.

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But the noise would go away if the belt is removed. I tried one of the idler pulleys earlier and got shot down. Rick 99 996C4 87 944S

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Changed it. I didn't shoot you down....I wrote that I removed the belt in the first post! The only way help on here works is to keep posting possible symptoms. If I shot you down, I apologize. I appreciate your input.

Did you ever figure out the source of the noise?

No,(as I type this at the airport bar waiting for my flight!) I've been travelling and haven't taken the car out, except once where I went to get my no front plate violation corrected at the CHP. I'll probably change the tranny fluid out over Christmas. I'll keep you posted. I'm still researching types of oil, Swepco or Mobil?????. My hearing for the speeding ticket is today too, fingers crossed! I hope it's going to be good news.

Well obviously it could be several things here, but one other consideration, and one which you probably do not want to hear about is, it could be the pinion bearing starting to give up. This is pretty common as these are sealed units and do tend to go bad. They unfortunately require a complete teardown of the gearbox to replace this bearing, I would replace the other sealed unit on the main at the same time. If it does seem like this might be the issue and you would like some help with this, please do not hesitate to contact me. These are pretty tricky gearboxes as the gears are pressed on with a 40 ton press. I hope that this is not it, but I thought I would share this possibility just the same. Erik Johnson GBox Performance Transaxles [phone removed] work [phone removed] cell

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Great well it will give me something not to look forward too if it is. We'll know at spme point. If it fails will it become something that will grenade the tranny? Any way of checking if its that?

Don't worry, if you can hear the sound at idle it's not the pinion shaft bearing--the pinion (output) shaft only rotates when the car is in motion. I'd still say your most likely culprit is the throw-out bearing. Can't really tell from the video but a throw-out bearing has that similar sort of noise, and goes away after a bit of driving. The part is $80 but would have similar labor times to replacing the clutch, if you take it to a shop may as well do the whole deal.

Any further on this one... as a side note, mine took a year off...... and is back couple days this week it was back, then gone again - mine is (IMO) exactly the same thing you have from the vid clip Ed

I'm going to pull that tranny but I might wait since there's another car run in Feb that I want to go on and after some time the whistle disappears, so I'm betting that it'll take another 100 miles of abuse. OORRRRR I pull it this week end and see what's going on. I'm not a good planner when it comes to these things.

yea, I understand.... its easier to talk about than do.... then once done, you do get that satisfied feeling FWIW - my has gone more than 100 miles

As the release bearing gets worse the clutch action will feel weird and it wears the bearing guide so you'll want a new one of those when you replace the bearing. I can't say for sure but I don't think it will cause any serious failures if you ignore it for a while. I've heard of people driving around for a couple of years with constantly noisy release bearings, but an old Toyota is not a Porsche so take that with a grain of salt.

oddly - I agree if it is the throwout bearing the consiquence of use/abuse should be minimal.... unless it scores the input shaft

I have that in my Trail Blazer, I just tell everyone its the super charger

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Now you're just being scary and mean, what next, tell him that throw-out bearings are functionally tied to the IMS?

LOL @ supercharger! HEY! dont forget MY car has the same whistle - lets keep those sleepless night comments to ourselves LOL

Hey I'm in the same boat so I'm damning myself as well--I've got a communal lot at my condo so I'm plain screwed until it warms up.

Sounds like the 110K throwout bearing I replaced when I did the clutch on my car. The bearing and carrier are kinda wimpy.

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You didn't know that? Along with that high pitched whistle is ultrasonics much like an ultrasonic cleaner that cause the grease in the IMS to settle and pour out the bottom. Those dry bearing go quick Well not really exactly but eh. I do know from previous chasing down noises that metal parts can transmit noises. When lookng to pinpoint a noise a wooden dowel can be pressed on areas then held close to the ear and you'll hear the noises of that region through the tip of the rod much like the noise can transmit through touching metal parts of the car. Is the whistle a certain tune or just a whistle

UPDATE????

Not yet. I'm looking for a tranny jack on Craigslist. Plus, I'm not in a hurry, I just sunk $680 on tires for the DD yesterday. I've got a set due on the P-car too. I'm tempted to Jack it up on the weekend and poke around a bit. Last time I drove it was on New Years day.....Busy Busy.

Ok Phil I had to get a set of tires on the suburban that came at the wrong time - so I know what you mean. Tough to juggle BTW mine came back a year after it stopped - thanks to your comments no doubt - Keep us posted and thanks for the update

I know! I know! Throw out bearing. The bitch is out.

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You have a career as a rapper with the way you turned that bearing in the vid

Congrats on getting it out! What's the deal with the oily grime all over the third of the tranny towards the engine? What could leak up there to cause that mess?

Not a clue. The back of that engine is alot more oily than previously assessed. Or it might be all that oily hate I was spewing out trying to get that fricken top bolt off of the tranny. And I'm not a rapper, I'm DJ Tranny. Yeah boi.

that's the smoking gun!! good find now I know what mine is and until my clutch gets tired or I find the cash for the LME bearing it can make that stuid noise all it wants !! good job !

I have now had this problem with my clutch which has failed once. The TOB has been replaced 3 times along with one new clutch and flywheel, but the problem returns around 500 miles of driving. I drove for about 12K miles on the "bad TOB problem" before my clutch completely gave out. Now, after a clutch repair, the same TOB noise has come back again around 500 miles. No one seems to have a solution to this. The car continues to drive well even with the noise, but I know what ends up happening. Don't know if something from the transmission is binding up the clutch, which may be why changing the tranny fluid seemed to work for some (at least temporarily). I don't understand why this is such a mysterious problem to fix. What's making the TOB go bad every time?

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It might be the fork. They've updated the fork and this might solve your problem. See below. Post 16 in this thread.

Thanks for the thread info. But I have a 2002 early build 996 (build date Oct 2001). Would this still apply, since that post talks about pre-Apr 2000 Carreras?

Hi All... HELP. Have been all over this forum of late trying to track down my own teapot-sounding whistle, and figured I wouldn't litter the board with another thread since I have a sneaky suspicion this is an AOS issue or resolved with certain of the suggestions above. The sound doesn't fit though, thus this post... have added (I hope) a somewhat dizzying vid that covers it at its worst, as I hovered across the rear. Sound is coming (it seems) from the left side of the engine. At the very end, right after I shut the engine off, you'll hear the noise rise to a crescendo then suddenly stop. Odd. It�s a 1999 996 C2 Cab with about 103k, and not been serviced since 75k (don't ask). Oil level was very low of late, but back to normal with a quart and a half topped. Clutch (and throwout bearing) done 20k ago. No issues shifting, tranny SEEMS normal. Tran fluid, however, is a wee bit overdue for a change (understatement, yes). No leaks I can see. I did do the little vacuum test... pulled the oil filler cap off and felt the suction. I'd put it on a level of a dustbuster... definitely something noticeable. Engine started to sputter quite a bit and nearly cut out after a few seconds until I quickly recapped it. From cold, the noise is faint if nonexistent for about 10 minutes of driving, then frequently off and on once the engine temp hits about 200 (??-- roughly between the 8 and the 0 of the 180 on the guage-- could never read that right, but normal I'd say). Oil pressure hangs around 5 for that time, then settles in after regular driving (20-70 mph on my commute home) at around 3-3.5. Once the noise starts kicking in every 30 seconds or so, the oil warning light pops on and off... can make both the noise and the light cut out with a punch on the gas, but it's temporary. Damn thing is LOUD at times. Started a few days ago. Sooo... am I in for an AOS job? (Rough cost?)Is the tranny fluid swap worth it first? Should I not park this near small children? (Edited to add: can't figure out how to get the HTML going and embed the vid, but here's a youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-HRgzinLEo ) <object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/T-HRgzinLEo&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0x2b405b&color2=0x6b8ab6"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/T-HRgzinLEo&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0x2b405b&color2=0x6b8ab6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>

A colleague at work thought it could relate to a sealed bearing somewhere?

Geebus that sounds terrifying! I honestly would start with the serpentine belt off for 10 seconds to verify that it's not a pulley or tension pulley. Then go from there Also try to get under the car to hear it... Front to back difference in sound. But what ever is going out sounds like its going to go with a bang.

Sounds ominous, doesn't it? I particularly like the crescendo when you turn the car off... my first instinct is to throw myself behind solid objects for safety. Oil pressure WAY low now. Ugh.