In the past few days Ive noticed ive been getting a loud whine when running my rear defroster and accelerating. Has to be both, if I just run the rear defroster and idle, no whine.
I popped the hood and know forsure its coming from the alternator. Ive had alternator whine before and this is the exact same (same tone, same pitch) noise. It gets louder as the cars rpms get higher. Once i turn the rear desfroster off, hit the gas and noise is gone.
Took it to one of my mechs yesterday (who has a good reputation, done a fair amount of work on my car), main reason why he isnt my main mech is cause hes very expensive. Anyways, he checked it out, tested the alt...said the charging system was fine and that the diodes in my alternator are starting to go. He said that the rear defroster puts a lot of extra load on the alternator cause its electric. I thought wierd, cause my alternator is only 2.5 years old (even though its a rebuilt but its an OEM rebuilt alnterator from a good shop).
So since Ive had nothing but good experiences with him in the past, I took his word for it cause he said he was 100% sure its the alternator. This morning took the car into an alternator shop (different one this time cause i was thinking my alternator was toast). Had the new one put in, costed me $190CDN installed. Figured since you have to remove the serp. belt to get to the alternator that I might as well replace the serp. belt while at it. Picked up a Gates belt for $30 on the way. Had the guy do both.
Got the car back, the same whine is still there. I was very unhappy and just couldnt believe it. I talked to the alternator shop guy and explained the situation and he said i should have mentioned the whine to him when he was doing all the work. I would have but again I gave my mech the benefit of the doubt that he was right about the alternator being the problem, so I didnt mention anything. I asked him basically to let me know when he disassembles my old taken out alternator and let me know if the diodes were infact bad. He said I can call him back MOnday cause he was about to close today and he can help me out. He said I can bring the car down to him and diagnose it. The only thing is that, this was all already out when he was doing all the uninstalling and installing. So Id have to pay more labour. ARGH!!!
I dont know what to do from here. Can you tell me what I should do?
Right now, from talking to a few buds theyre thinking its the A/C compressor bearing inside. Another we considered as a possibility was A/C pulley bearing, but its not that because it would be making a much different noise (like more of a rumbling), even confirmed that with the mech yesterday who said the same thing.
Now, if my old alternator is still good (which taking it that it is), theres no point putting it back in because the money id be getting back on it would be going to the labour in swaping them again. No point. Keep the one I have in now and at least i have a fresh 1.5 yr warranty on it whereas the old one doesnt.
The fact that I replaced the serp. belt as well today to kill two birds with one stone (which im now very very glad I did), makes me see some good in this. I replaced an alternator for nothing but I also replaced my belt which had to be done in the next while anyways. So I could see this as factoring in that I paid for the serp. belt and install job as the primary purchase and then it lessesn the blow (cost) on the new UNNEEDED alternator and 1.5 warranty.
I popped the hood and know forsure its coming from the alternator. Ive had alternator whine before and this is the exact same (same tone, same pitch) noise. It gets louder as the cars rpms get higher. Once i turn the rear desfroster off, hit the gas and noise is gone.
Took it to one of my mechs yesterday (who has a good reputation, done a fair amount of work on my car), main reason why he isnt my main mech is cause hes very expensive. Anyways, he checked it out, tested the alt...said the charging system was fine and that the diodes in my alternator are starting to go. He said that the rear defroster puts a lot of extra load on the alternator cause its electric. I thought wierd, cause my alternator is only 2.5 years old (even though its a rebuilt but its an OEM rebuilt alnterator from a good shop).
So since Ive had nothing but good experiences with him in the past, I took his word for it cause he said he was 100% sure its the alternator. This morning took the car into an alternator shop (different one this time cause i was thinking my alternator was toast). Had the new one put in, costed me $190CDN installed. Figured since you have to remove the serp. belt to get to the alternator that I might as well replace the serp. belt while at it. Picked up a Gates belt for $30 on the way. Had the guy do both.
Got the car back, the same whine is still there. I was very unhappy and just couldnt believe it. I talked to the alternator shop guy and explained the situation and he said i should have mentioned the whine to him when he was doing all the work. I would have but again I gave my mech the benefit of the doubt that he was right about the alternator being the problem, so I didnt mention anything. I asked him basically to let me know when he disassembles my old taken out alternator and let me know if the diodes were infact bad. He said I can call him back MOnday cause he was about to close today and he can help me out. He said I can bring the car down to him and diagnose it. The only thing is that, this was all already out when he was doing all the uninstalling and installing. So Id have to pay more labour. ARGH!!!
I dont know what to do from here. Can you tell me what I should do?
Right now, from talking to a few buds theyre thinking its the A/C compressor bearing inside. Another we considered as a possibility was A/C pulley bearing, but its not that because it would be making a much different noise (like more of a rumbling), even confirmed that with the mech yesterday who said the same thing.
Now, if my old alternator is still good (which taking it that it is), theres no point putting it back in because the money id be getting back on it would be going to the labour in swaping them again. No point. Keep the one I have in now and at least i have a fresh 1.5 yr warranty on it whereas the old one doesnt.
The fact that I replaced the serp. belt as well today to kill two birds with one stone (which im now very very glad I did), makes me see some good in this. I replaced an alternator for nothing but I also replaced my belt which had to be done in the next while anyways. So I could see this as factoring in that I paid for the serp. belt and install job as the primary purchase and then it lessesn the blow (cost) on the new UNNEEDED alternator and 1.5 warranty.
