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Weird Whistling sound??

20K views 27 replies 20 participants last post by  iceguyb14 
#1 ·
I was driving the car today and I started hearing a weird whistling sound coming from the engine bay. i turned off the radio to listen and whenever i put any kind of load on the engine (even barely touching the gas) and im in 3rd, 4th, or 5th at about 2000rpms it starts to whistle and it gets higher pitched with the engine. its not the turbo.

could it possibly have something to do with the clutch/flywheel? i was goin about 40mph in neutral and blipped the throttle to shift to 4th without using the clutch and as i was slightly pushing it into 4th the whistle was there and it got lower pitched with the engine speed slowing down and then it went it gear like normal. then putting load on the engine caused the sound again.

any ideas?

also, when in neutral with the foot off of the clutch the clutch/flywheel has been makin a lot of noise lately. more than before. it used to a little bit.. then after it was broken in it only made a little noise when the a/c was on. now its considerably louder.. :screwy:
 
#3 ·
the whistling only happens under load, so when its in neutral or the clutch is pushed in it doesnt make the sound..

and the noise with the clutch does go away when you push in the clutch. some people have told me its just the lightweight flywheel so i dunno..
 
#4 ·
all of the vacuum lines are fine too..

ok so i just went for a drive and it is still doing it. i wanted to mention i cant hear it when the window is down, only up and its pretty quiet.. i also noticed that if i shift front 3rd to 5th its makes a kind of whistle for a second too (sounds kind of like a person whistling quietly while humming if that makes any sense). does that mean it has something to do with the tranny? could it be a t/o bearing? im 99% sure i replaced that about 4000 miles ago..
 
#5 ·
I don't think the throwout bearing would make that type of noise...
 
#7 ·
I had an Ranger years ago that made a sound similar to what to you describe.

It turned out to be a problem with the heater core. The coolent flow is relative to RPM's so as the RPM's climbed the flow through the core increased making the sound.

It sounded like the trans was going to blow up but wasn't the trans at all.

It's not likely to be your problem but it is one more possiblilty that is fairly easy to eliminate. Just by pass the heater core and see if anything changes.

Sounds can echo through a car and be misleading. For example one rear shock bolt just slightly loose enough for the captive washer to rattle sounded like the entire subframe was about to fall off.
 
#10 ·
its not the radio,,,, i have a 07 zx3,, same sound only under load and at around 3200-4100 rpms,, sounds just like a turbo spoolling up.. high pitch.. clutch makes no diff.. a/c on or off no diff. i have tracked it down to the intake.. but can not find where it is... maybe to swirl valve ??
 
#12 ·
yeah j8346 cept mine is at a little lower rpms.. its not quite like the turbo, but it is a high pitch whistle. a/c on or off doesnt make a diff.

who knows..
 
#14 ·
just so you know i have a turbo.. i never noticed the sound til a couple days ago..
 
#17 ·
How many miles are on the kit?

Sounds like a bearing issue. I've heard the noise several times on turbos requiring a rebuild. It will make it just before it's catastrophic.

Could be simpler, but i'd check for shaft play.

- Drew
 
#18 ·
i was wondering too about the intake manifold, dont the new duratecs have the tumbler flaps in them? could that be causing the noise you are hearing?

sorry im a zetec guy but seems like that could be an issue.

are the tumbler flaps movable? are they like the svt DSI? like maybe they are stuck down *in tumble mode* and causing a disruption at the higher velocities of air?

just an idea
 
#19 ·
i hear a whistling sound too. it only happens when i have the AC on. i think it could be my fan... but i havnt looked yet.
 
#21 ·
i would say its a small leak somewhere on the intake but if not, then it could be the throttle body.

when i step on the throttle about 1/3 of the way, it sort of hisses/whistles. any other throttle position and its quiet. i ported and cleaned the tb and it still does it but i dont mind. it actually makes a cool little chuffing sound when i go on/off the gas. sounds just like turbo wastegate (but not as loud) and confuses other motorists when they see its coming from a focus.
 
#22 ·
Might wanna try and look at the idler pulley on the serp. belt. Mine gets crappy every 15-25K, same prob.
 
#23 · (Edited)
Hey guys, Marty here new to the forum, so im not the only guy having the strange whistling sound..I have a 2000 Kona edition with the 2.0 zetec with a auto trans..and I too have a whistling sound while under a load between 1300 and 3600 RPM...ive replace the serpitine belt with a good year gator back belt..checked the idler pully..and even replace the valve cover gasket since it was leaking anyways..and still the sound...think it could be the Throttle body?? thats the only place i can imagine it would be.

I also noticed that the car surges a bit also...and the check engine light is on.
 
#24 ·
This may be stupid, but I get a whistling sound because of the bores in my windshield wipers. Took me a few minutes to figure out where it was coming from, but in my case, it was only air moving through the wipers. Whistles at certain speeds. Didn't want someone to go tearing their motor apart if this was the reason for the noise, lol.
 
#25 ·
I have noticed that noise since i installed my fswerks cool-flow race cai. I have noticed that every focus makes that sound, it is just that the aftermarket intake amplifies the sound therefore making it a bit more noticeable. that is just my opinion
 
#26 ·
ya but his car was turbo'd. theres alot of piping between air filter and tb... mind you i have a nice whistle coming from the turbo so i cant imagine how you could hear anything else over spool up
 
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