Engine making noise, dont know where its coming from or what its caused by.

[alkemist]

Hello,

Yesterday my 1996 buick riviera started making slight noise from the engine which was not present before. It is sort of a whirling sound, similar to the sound of power steering when its pumping. Except the sound is always present when car runs, making the engine slightly louder the norm.\


What could be causing it? It sounds like its coming from the place where all accessores are joined by the belt. My suspicions are water pump soon to go or maybe pullies?

Thank you.

[96riviera18]

does it get louder with more rpm? if your car has over 90k mi on her then i would go ahead and replace all the tensioner and idler pulleys to prevent one of them breaking while driving (it happened to me twice in 4 mo....3 belts later) the stock ones are jus plastic and they all seem to go with in months of each other. its not hard to do but its best to do it while changing the belts.(thats a PITA)

[PArabbit]

Could be the alternator bearings- take a long screwdriver and touch tip of blade to alternator casing while engine is running (careful!) and put your ear close to the top of the handle- you can hear noisy bearings that way, especially if you have someone rev the engine slightly to see if noise increases.

You can touch blade to center bolt on each of the pulleys to see if one or more is causing the noise.

This works on water pump noise, too, but be very careful getting the screwdriver blade tip down to the pump body without touching the moving belts.

My 96 had a very weird noise, almost gurgling, from the right corner of dash, and we all thought it was power steering pump- but it turned out the drain pipe in air conditioning tray had clogged, and condensation was overflowing into the blower and making all sorts of whirring, bubbling sounds.

[alkemist]

FIrst of all, thank you for consideration.



The "noise" or sound one might say does become louder with higher RMP, however the pitch does not change.


I will be testing pulleys out with the screw driver tomorrow so please stay with me.

also Il will look for new set of tensioners and pulleys to install since belt needs to be change anyway. How much would that run approx?

Peace

[96riviera18]

the 2 belts will run you about 60 from napa and the 4 pulleys are about 15 each IIRC...all of them are easy to change except for the one behine the engine mount(requires you to remove the power steering pump and more )

[PArabbit]

You certainly don't have to remove power steering pump for the belt. Just loosen bolt on motor mount at lower front, remove the spacer, thread belt thru that space, same with new belt, slip spacer back in, thread bolt thru and tighten.

[96riviera18]

right, not for the belts just for the idler pulley behind the motor mount if you decide to change that pulley too...i just left mine on and im hoping it doent break b/c i was lazy and didnt change it with the rest of them

[alkemist]

The sound had gotten louder over past few days.

It now sounds like rusted steel rubbing together. ANy thoughts?

[alkemist]

It seems to me as if the tensioner arm pulley is a little crooked, not aligned with the belt and other accessories. but i still cant figure out whats causing the noise.... its too loud when i open the hood to check for any changes frmo the screw driver

[96riviera18]

maybe the actual tensioner is going out and the grinding noise is the spring bound up or moving too much. take a 15mm socket and check the tensioner to make sure it moves back and check that the belt has no more than 1/2 inch of give. do you see any small metal shavings anywhere on the frame of the car?

[alkemist]

I am thinking of just changing everything.

Tensioner , 4 pulleys and belt. (I have one bc its Vin K, no SC)


If I am not mistaken, I need 2 idlers:
http://www.car-stuff.com/cs_auto/mmp...s443c18d3c135d for ex?

ANd 2 tensioners:
http://replacement.car-stuff.com/par...howdc=true#top

[96riviera18]

i dont know about the series 2 l36 but the series 3 l26 (same engine but newer) only has 1 tensioner and no idler pulley http://www.gminsidenews.com/3.8L.jpg

[alkemist]

What is the difference between 3in and 3 1/2in idler pulleys?

[96riviera18]

"What is the difference between 3in and 3 1/2in idler pulleys?"
1/2 and inch... sorry i couldnt resist, i believe the stock pulley is 3" but you can upgrade to a 3.5" if you get a smaller supercharger pulley in order to keep the same belt and reduce s/c belt slipage. i dont know what size it is on the L36 so you would need to measure it to make certain, that's if the L36 even has an idler pulley.

[sprucegoose]

Originally Posted by alkemist

The sound had gotten louder over past few days.

It now sounds like rusted steel rubbing together. ANy thoughts?

The way you described this here sounds exactly like the clutch on the A/C when it is rubbing on the pulley. I had this happen on two different Pontiacs of about the same year as your Buick. Does the noise change or go away when you turn on the A/C? Does your A/C work? If the noise goes away when you turn it on, that is probably it...