[myfocusrocks]

I cant explain the sound any better than, its a whine. My car as about 68k on the engine. It does it all the time, but its only really noticeable when your speeding up. The higher the rpm's get, the louder it gets. I opened the hood, and its coming from the top left of the valve cover, almost as if its the belt, but I dunno if that's causing it. It really doesn't sound right. My brothers focus is 4 years older, with double the mileage, and his sure doesn't sound like that. Any ideas as to what it could be?

Quick edit.

Its almost exactly like this sound, but by far not that bad. Its still loud, but no where near this loud. Same kind of noise/tone.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GQgh4nSnes

 

[viney266]

That video is a power steering pump howl. Check your fluid level in that. Does the whine go up and down with engine RPM? Does it get louder when you turn?

 

[myfocusrocks]

It does get louder when the rpm's get higher. And I havent noticed it getting louder when I turn. At idle its almost not noticeable. But once I start driving I notice it.

 

[bluefront]

Take the belt off and run the engine for a short time.....if the noise is still there, you have an internal engine problem of some sort.

Bad news in that case...

P/S pumps can make very loud noises however. You could put a stethoscope probe on the pump while it's running, and other places on the engine. A mechanic's stethoscope allows you to pin-point an issue. They work neat for checking strange noises.

 

[focusmaniaczx3]

sure u dont have a supercharger? lol sorry j/k. second that sounds like power steering

 

[mlbbaseball]

be carefull if you take off the belt, you're engine will overheat very quickly. also, it sounds like something isn't lubed up. and it is more than likely driven by the serpentine belt as decibels are proportional to RPM.

 

[iminhell]

My vote goes for Accessory Belt Tensioner.

 

[myfocusrocks]

How would I check those things to see if they are lubed up correctly? So is that big belt on the left of the valve covers the serpentine belt? Where is the timing belt? I thought thats what it was... I dont know, lol. Im not used to the Focus engine, I had multiple Subarus with EG33 flat six, belts in front design, lol.

 

[ArcticMynx]

if you have a Zetec ( the Timing Belt ) its between the left of the valve cover and right of the accessory belt right under that cover..

The accessory/serpentine belt is located to the left of the timing cover down below the mount that weaves its way from the lower front to the lower rear to about 3/4 up the back of the passenger side of the engine

 

[venomfocus]

this happen to me when my alt. was going bad.

 

[the Duff]

My vote goes for Accessory Belt Tensioner.

Agreed. I've also replaced idler pulleys for it. Either way it's a pain in the ass. Try using a long thin screw driver or maybe even a crow bar. Touch the tip of the screw driver to the idler pulley bolt, tensioner bolts, and the alternator case right behind the pulley. Press your ear against the screw driver handle and you should be able to trace it down. If you rest the screw driver right on the tensioner arm or the tensioner pulley bolt it might give you a false positive. Easy around that belt too, don't let go of the screwdriver. You might need to rev it up a little. To test the P/S pump just rev it up and turn the wheel while in park. You'll know right away if this is it. The pitch will change while cranking the wheel.

 

[myfocusrocks]

Its not a Zetec, its a Duratec, does that make any difference?

 

[Trav-E2.0]

You have a timing chain........not a belt [] The actual belt is your accessory/serpentine

Mine seems to make the same noise. Esp. in 1st gear high RPMs. I need some light shined on this as well...

 

[ArcticMynx]

LOL he never stated his engine and I can't go by ZX3 Ive seen them with both engines.. and seeing it has a chain then my bet would be one of the pulleys are going

if its like a chatter type hum it would be the bearings on one of the pulley's

if it was the same whine like the video that would be the Power Steering pump itself ( My van does that all the time and honestly couldn't care less) but if the tone of the whine in the video changes when you turn the wheels side to side while parked the pump would be to blame if it doesn't change and stays the same even with turning the wheels I would go after the pulley's

as I've only had Zetecs i'm not sure what parts a duratec has but if I had to point fingers from past experiences they would be alternators, tensioner and stationary pulleys usually start to chatter on the utmost rarity ive seen an AC pump pulley start to chatter but there was past histories to those problems

if you remove the serpentine belt you should be able to diagnose which pulley is the problem one, what I usually do is see if theres any play in the pulleys as if they tilt or they have excessive movement ( aside to the spinning (they will spin a little awkward)) or in some cases you can feel like a rough feel when spinning them

Im not sure of the belt run and what pulleys a duratec has.. thats the best advise I can offer without being present at the car itself

 

[Trav-E2.0]

i have yet to see anyone from the d tec crew have a zetec...lol j/k i tried to look and see where it was coming from with the car parked and my whine only seems to happen under a load in first gear. my real thought could only be that its something with the transmission??? could that be the case???

 

[focusmaniaczx3]

oi trav what song is that by all that remains in your sig?

 

[Trav-E2.0]

Focus Shall Not Fail off there This Darkened Heart CD...Great song []

Anyone have any other thoughts??? I have the day off to day and I'll start digging around teh engine bay to look and see

 

[myfocusrocks]

Im going to bring this back up here...

This is the last thing that is bothering me. I want to figure out just what is causing the noise. So I stuck my head in the engine bay, and had the engine rev up while i tried to pinpoint where the sound was comming from. And its comming from the area circled in the pic below.

SO, what is the black thing next to the alt? To me it sounds like its the alt, its comming from RIGHT there. But what is the thing next to it? Is it one of the pulleys? I asked Ford what it could be, and they werent much help...

 

[bluefront]

The "black thing" directly to the right of the alternator is the tensioner, which could be the cause of the noise.

Rather than just guessing.....buy a mechanic's stethoscope for a few bucks. Then you can make a better guess. Put the probe against the outer part of the tensioner (the part that isn't turning). You'll hear the noise. But also put the probe against everything else in the area that isn't turning.

Alternators make "whining" noises more frequently than tensioners. Have you tried running the engine without the belt? If you remove the belt you can spin the tensioner by hand to see if it makes noise.....

 

[PlasticRacer]

My vote would go to the altenator as well, when mine was going it would do the same thing, and get louder with RPMs, you might notice a strange odor as well coming from it.