Whine under hood?

[Omnipc]

If I am in the wrong forum, my bad. I couldn't find the problems forum the moderator mentioned. However I see lots of people in here asking about mechanical problems so here's mine.

(2000 cav) There's a whine under the hood, can be heard mostly when accelerating. Not to be confused with a squeal, this is not a belt squeal. Almost sounds like a torpedo gyro cranking up, really hard to describe. Someone suggested to me it could be the "bands" in my transmission. Has been doing it almost a year, and does not affect how the car runs. But I'm worried it may break down and my wife drives it to work.

Thanx if anyone can clue me in.

[danielsatur]

Any pump, pulley, or tensioner, that is driven by the serpentine belt could whine.
Being 10years old, it's probably time for a new belt and pulley.

Isolated the Vbelt, or serpentine belt for a short, and start the engine.
Did the whine noise do a Chris Angle?

[Omnipc]

Doh, I should have done that first. It does sound like its coming from the power steering pump. I'll remove the belt tomorrow and see what happens, thanx I'll post the results.

[danielsatur]

If you thinking it's coming from the power steering, it's probably low on fluid.

[hreed]

My car is doing that too... I just had the water pump changed, and it hasnt been long since the serpintine belt was changed. Its had a quiet whine noise for a very long time, but no issues driving. The other day my check engine light came on also, but I thought maybe the gas cap wasnt on all the way, because thats caused that before. I take it off and put it back on and the light stays on. Not sure if I have a bad gas cap or if its something else havent been able to get it hooked up to the code reader yet. However today I went to drive it six days after the water pump was changed. I checked the antifreeze (habbit considering I had to do it daily and fill daily before I got it changed). Then when I started driving I noticed the whine noise got louder more high pitch as I accelorated. My stepdad is going to look at it more tomorrow, but I am really hoping it isnt my transmition. Any other ideas would be great. I have a 2000 cavalier, 2.2 liter engine.