Whiny engine.... for a moment.

[MikeoftheQuays]

A query rather than a problem this one:

When I first start the car there is a distinct whine. Kinda like a supercharger except a bit lower in pitch. I've searched for it on here (lots of results when you search for "whine"!) and got the general jist of alternator/aux belt pulley/idler thingydoofer etc etc but the difference I have to all the other queries is that my whine disappears after about 10 seconds. By the time I get my seatbelt on, get my s**t together and set off the whine has gone.

I understand that when things warm up the expand and it could stop the whining but surely 10 seconds isn't enough time for this to happen?

For all I know all 182's make this noise when they first start up and it's perfectly natural. Just thought I'd ask though...

 

[MikeoftheQuays]

Just timed it now coming home from work and it whines for about 15 seconds before becoming inaudible.

 

[sideways danny]

it's cold, the battery puts a lot of effort in to start the car and needs to be recharged, so the alternator is working harder for a short time. If the aux belt tensioner isn't tightening the belt enough it'll slip until it warms/dries/load is reduced

 

[Sash]

My diesel does this too, more prevalent in cold weather too.

No idea what it is.

 

[DrR]

Normal i think,

 

[MikeoftheQuays]

it's cold, the battery puts a lot of effort in to start the car and needs to be recharged, so the alternator is working harder for a short time. If the aux belt tensioner isn't tightening the belt enough it'll slip until it warms/dries/load is reduced

Hmm makes sense I guess. Belts were supposed to have been done just before I bought it (about 3 months ago now). I wonder if they just did the cambelt then?

I'm assuming if it's the tensioner it's not a simple job of replacing one part. The whole lot has to get done right?

 

[jinjur]

All do this IMO.........even heard a 197 do it at first start....

No worries

 

[barker22]

mines the same, did it last winter, never heard it during the spring/summer months and now it started again when its cold in the morning, whines for 10secs tops, normal i woud say

 

[jack_kemp]

15 seconds is plenty of time for things to warm up with the amount of friction caused by a rubber belt spinning on metal.

 

[jmarsh5]

Its normal mate, and a bit more noticeable in this cold weather.

 

[Cupman29]

It'll be the oil pump labouring until the oil warms up and becomes less viscous?

 

[brownale01]

mine does it from the pas pump. It got worse, sent it to renault and it had died, even the new pump makes a noise but like you said goes away after 10 or so seconds.

 

[MikeoftheQuays]

Cheers fellas.

With it not getting any worse and happening for such a short time I wasn't too worried. It's still nice to know it's a common problem/feature though.

 

[sideways danny]

I wonder if anyone who's got this issue has tried turning auto-lights off??

 

[MikeoftheQuays]

Okay, further to this...

I'm now finding that when I first set off the steering is odd. It makes a groaning noise when turning the wheel and the wheel feels odd. Kinda like a very slight vibration. I'm a buffoon when it comes to cars so feel free to rubbish this but my thoughts are that the the aux belt is slipping even more and is slipping on the PAS pump thus affecting my steering. The cambelt was done at 39k by the previous owner and it is only at 42k now so I'm thinking that perhaps they did the cambelt but left the aux belt alone.

So, assuming I'm correct, are we looking at a new aux belt plus tensioners here? Or could it be the PAS pump on it's way out as mentioned by someone above?

Ideally I'd like to get both belts done along with a good service but money is damned tight this time of year so if I could get away with a couple of hundred for the aux belt and tensioners then while not happy exactly, I wouldn't be going hungry!

Lastly, I'm kinda assuming that belts aren't covered by warranties. Anyone had any experience of this?

 

[ScarySquirrel]

This is what mine sounded like when the PAS pump was broken

[youtube]6IFSRKJQMYU[/youtube]

 

[MikeoftheQuays]

The idle sounds very different. Sounds quite like it when turning the wheel.

Thing is, as before, all symptoms disappear after a few seconds which makes me think it's belt related rather than the pump itself. It's not freezing right now but it's still only 3 or 4 according to the dash so I'm thinking that the belt is still under quite a load when starting from cold. Especially if I set off fairly soon and start manouvering (sp?) out of a carpark.

I guess I'm also asking if this is something that can wait or something that needs to be sorted stat before the belt jumps ship and whips off the cambelt enroute. I can afford an aux belt. Both belts would wipe me out. A cambelt failure would mean selling the car for parts.

 

[bmh.01]

It'll be the oil pump labouring until the oil warms up and becomes less viscous?

I'm going with this, mines exactly the same and always has been as long as i've had it. Deffo comes from the oil pump area of the engine and isn't the aux belt slipping and its had 2x new belt and tensioner through its time with me and always the same. Sure the 172 never did it though. Doesn't do it on a warm engine only from stone cold.

 

[regi james]

yeap i would say oil pump mine has done it since i got it 2 years ago, would be interesting to see if it done it less with thinner oil.

 

[MikeoftheQuays]

Yeah that sounded about right until this steering issue popped up. Now I'm thinking that the two symptoms taken together point to a slipping belt.

 

[MikeoftheQuays]

Well things are coming to a head now. It whines almost constantly and any decent amount of lock produces the noise I described above.

Gonna limp to the garage tomorrow and see what they think. Hopefully it will be the aux belt cos £200 or so I can stomach. Fingers crossed it's nothing more serious.