2004 Honda Accord 92,000 miles whine-ing..

[mommy2one99]

Okay, here's the deal.. I know NOTHING about cars, but I do know that when my car starts to whine- something is wrong, right? This is how I am feeling at the moment. I don't want to take it in and say, its whining, because I am pretty sure the guys at the dealership (which I DON"t take my car too anymore-- thats a long story made short)... will want to charge me an arm and a leg to tell me something that was probably pretty simple in changing. So, is this something a novus like me can do or is it better off left to someone who knows a little something about cars.

Thanks ya'll

[jeffcoslacker]

Whether doing it yourself, or having someone else take a crack at it, it helps a lot if you can be as descriptive as possible, helps get to the problem quicker.

I worked in a shop for many years, and I can tell you that the people who are able to provide details about the nature of the problem get the problem fixed faster and cheaper than those who can't...

Need to know things like:

Is it related to engine speed (sound rises and falls as the car runs up through the gears) or road speed (sound changes in relation to speed of the car, not engine speed)?

Is it worse in certain gears/rpm ranges?

Does temp make a difference? Is it louder when you first drive, or after running a while, or no difference, etc?

Does it go away when you step on the brake, downshift, turn, etc...is there anything you do while driving that makes it worse or better?

Can you hear it at idle, when the car is not moving?

Aside from the sound, do you feel any new vibrations or anything, if so, does it come through the steering wheel, shifter, body, etc...?

Have you noticed anything else happening, even if it seems unrelated to you? Sometimes that's the clue needed to find the problem...(like when my friend finally told me his left headlight retractor stopped working about the same time the radiator fan was staying on and running the battery down...wish he would have told me sooner, would have saved hours of chasing wiring...found the fused wiring ten minutes after he told me that...)

If the sound is related to engine or road speed...need to know if it's an automatic trans or manual, if manual, does it stop when you push the clutch in, etc..?

More info...there's about 200 things that could whine on a car...give me something to work with...