1994 Pontiac Trans Am engine whine

CUNNINGHAM1977

MEMBER
1994 PONTIAC TRANS AM

1994 Pontiac Trans Am 200000 miles

I drive a 1994 Pontiac Trans Am. Over the holiday my car overheated. I did a little looking around and I noticed a steady stream of water coming from the large hose on the left side of the water pump. I changed the hose which solved that problem. I then had to drive home(120 miles). About 10 miles from home a noticed a loud whining noise which sounded like it was coming from under the hood. It gets louder as the car accelerates and is the loudest in 1st and 2nd gears. The rear bearings have been whining lightly for a while but this seems like it coming from another direction. PLEASE, can you tell me what it might be that is causing this?

5 Replies

PEAR69

MECHANIC
1,482 POSTS

Check to see if coolant is flowing through the upper and lower radiator hoses after the engine is warmed up. If not or if it seems to be restricted in some way, the t-stat could be blocked and the water pump may be whining.

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Tuesday, December 29th, 2009 AT 1:55 AM

CUNNINGHAM1977

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3 POSTS

I am no mechanic. How to I tell if it is flowing through or not?

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Wednesday, December 30th, 2009 AT 7:26 PM

PEAR69

MECHANIC
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Then what do you mean by "the rear bearings have been whinning for a while''? What rear bearings are you talking about?

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Thursday, December 31st, 2009 AT 2:21 AM

CUNNINGHAM1977

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I was talking about the rear wheel bearings. They have been making a noise for a while but this is coming from under the hood. The noise is still there whether I am in park or in drive so I am assuming that it would have nothing to do with the wheel bearings.

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Thursday, December 31st, 2009 AT 12:50 PM

PEAR69

MECHANIC
1,482 POSTS

To check for flow -- Remove the radiator cap when the enguine is cold. Start the engine and watch the coolant inside of the radiator as the engine warms up. After about a minute or two, feel the upper radiator hose while you are watching the coolant inside of the radiator. When the coolant/engine temperature gets to a certain point, the thermostat should open. When you begin to feel the radiator hose getting warm, you should be able to see the coolant flowing through the radiator. Then, put the radiator cap on first and then shut engine off - in that order. If the coolant does not flow, you either have a bad thermostat or a failing water pump.
The whine could also be a pully on the serp. Belt system. The tensioner pully and the idler pully will whine when they are failing. To check the belt pullys just remove the serp. Belt or any other belts on the front of the engine, and rotate the pullys by hand. The alternator, power steering, A/C Compressor along with the idler and tensioner all have pullys on them, and anyone or more of them could be the issue. If some coolant splashed up on engine belt system, it could have caused some of these issues.
Check the powersteering fluid.