Squeal / whine on startup

I hear a whine from the front of my engine compartment when I start the car after it has been sitting for a few hours (cold engine). After several minutes it stops. I only hear the noise at idle, it goes away as the engine RPM's go up.

The car was lovingly hand crafted in November 1996, and has 194,000 miles on the engine.

Anyone have an idea of what ails my EG33?

[Beav]

It could be a belt, the water pump, alternator or a pulley bearing, to name a few things.

[huck369]

I agree with Beav, but I'd check the belts first, as my 92's (with 150k) PS belt will not stay adjusted, and I have to adjust it about every two weeks. The lock nut must be worn out, I check it out closer when I change the timing belt.

I had the water pump replaced at the 180K maint. I guess I'll have to leave it with the SVX techs and endure a state of SVX-less-ness for a day.

So very close to 200K miles on the odometer.

Originally posted by Vern!
I hear a whine from the front of my engine compartment when I start the car after it has been sitting for a few hours (cold engine). After several minutes it stops. I only hear the noise at idle, it goes away as the engine RPM's go up.

The car was lovingly hand crafted in November 1996, and has 194,000 miles on the engine.

Anyone have an idea of what ails my EG33?

I think just noticed the same on mine when I was about to move it so I could wash it. I just had it checked at Duff's and they said the belts were okay; as I pushed the gas pedal it seemed to increase in pitch with increasing RPMs. After leaving the driveway it seemed to stop. I took it around the block and stopped the engine and started it again a couple times, and it didn't make the noise.

Man I really am averaging at least one problem a day! I wonder what tomorrow's will be...

Originally posted by Vern!
I had the water pump replaced at the 180K maint. I guess I'll have to leave it with the SVX techs and endure a state of SVX-less-ness for a day.

So very close to 200K miles on the odometer.

Did this fix the whine at startup?

I have not had anything done to it yet. What I have noticed is that the whine seems to be quieter than it used to be (when I got my car back from... anyhow). I have also noticed that it seems to be ambient temperature dependent; on a warm day it makes less noise for a shorter time than on a cold day. Shorter time for engine warmup on a warm day?

This weekend I am going to have my vanilla mechanic take a look at the belts and whatnot to see what he thinks it is. Might just need a tensioner adjusted if I am lucky.

I'll report my findings back to the group.

Update

Well, the good(?) news is that the squeal has gone away by itself.

The bad news is that it took all my AC refrigerant (r134-a) with it.

Are the two events connected? I think so!

OKokOKok, now I take the SVX in to find out where the leak is.

196,xxx miles and counting.

A bit of belt dressing sprayed on the front parts of the engine totally fixed the symptom.