Loud whistling noise...help
 

When I get up to and over 5krpm I hear a loud noise coming from under the hood. It's loud enough to hear over the engine at five thousand rpms. It's a sound close to taking a piece of steel and dragging it against another piece. When I start the car in the morning I smell a burning piece of rubber, this just started about 4 days ago, but the whistling type noise has been happening for quite a while, only lately have I noticed it, because I now have a job with money for gas, so I can drive like I want to.

Is this a minor problem such as a belt or something, or a major something such as a engine malfunction. Im going to make an appt at the shop on Monday, but I don't want to spend 500 bucks for a mech to tell me a bolt was loose. Help me if you can, thanks!

It sounds as though one of the idler pullys is about to fail. Remove the belts and check all the idlers. They should move smoothly, easily and without noise.

Will do tomorrow, too dark right now, no shop. Thanks, I'll let you know what find.

Is this an immediate threat?

Could be. If the bearing seizes, the belt will be thrown which will likely cause all the other belts to come off. Ask me how I know. :)

How do you know that?

Happened to me when an air pump seized. And incidentally on my Honda when the idler seized.

my LS1 Fc made a loud whining noise but it was coming from the diff

Oh... That's gotta hurt! :(
Did it go off at speed and broke something?

Nope, just driving around town. It's an Insight so it doesn't have an alternator, and the belt only turns the water pump and AC compressor. Still had to stop due to the water pump not spinning and had to pay for a tow 5 blocks from my house. Sigh.

run your car... look under the hood and see if you can hear it.

help me, some moooorreee
 

okay this is where im at, i removed my belt, and i only have one belt. it was tearing and was old and so i got a new one. took my alternator in and had it tested, it worked good, they gave it back to me, i went home. i did an oil change ( just cause it was time to do one, not cause i thought it would help the noise) and then i decided to try and run my engine WITHOUT the belt on, so no alternator. the engine sounded awesome, no squeal. put the belt on, and the alt back on, not in that order, and guess what? squeal came back. so. can someone explain what exactly the 3 pulleys do? one is from the engine, one is slightly higher than the engine, and orientated to the left, and the last one is my alternator, which is at the top. the squealing is coming from the top or middle ones. please explain what i need to do? my dad said my alternator bearing may be bad and i would need to take it in to get it rebuilt or get a new one or something.

thanks guys

Engine pulley is on the e shaft which turns ur water pump and the alternator. Sounds like your alternator I starting to go. I would go and get a new alternator to replace it before it seizes and cause even more trouble.

The Factory Service Manuals for all years of RX-7 (and many other rotary cars) can be downloaded for free here: http://foxed.ca/foxed/index.php?page=rx7manual . They contain all common service information information and more, and are an essential tool for any sort of service work that needs to be performed on these cars.

Additionally, the Haynes service manual for the 1986 thru 1991 RX-7 (both turbo and NA) can be found at most local auto parts stores or purchased from any good bookstore (ISBN number 1 56392 007 7). It is only about $25 and is a great quick reference for things like this. Not only does it contain most of the information in the FSM condensed into an easy to read format, but it includes full wiring diagrams as well.

These manuals will answer 99% of service related questions for the car and if you intend to do your own repair work, you will need at least one of them. Preferably both, since the FSM is a free download. The Haynes is a good quick reference covering 99% of questions, while the FSMs show complete and detailed procedures.

Bottom pulley is the eccentric shaft. Next pulley up is water pump. Top pulley is alternator.

HOWEVER, it sounds like someone has removed your air pump. That being the case, you'll need to upgrade to a dual belt alternator pulley and run a 2nd belt in order to get enough belt contact on the water pump to drive it. That alone may be the reason for the squealing. But it sounds like you're about to lose a water pump.

how does one understand if his air pump has been removed?

Find it

uhuh..............

My 85 was squeeling at anything above 4000 rpm and I found out my power steering pump was low on fluid. I filled it up no more noise

Look at the spot where the air pump would be located. If it is gone, then it has been removed.