Whining sound while the car is moving
 

After the car has started, then I release the clutch engaging in gear, slowly moving the car.... as soon as I try to drive the car normally, there is this loud whining sound coming from the engine.

The "check engine" warning light also appears with the whining sound. The whining sound gets smaller as I drive slower and shift to higher gears.

The whining sounds like something is grinding together, or something is locked up and grinding together.....

I checked on the FC3s Pro site's "Problem" section, and there are two possiblities:

- Rear differential
- Transmission


Currently I find no issue with the clutch nor the transmission. Shifting is smooth, no grinds, and the clutch is still pretty good.

This situation doesn't happen all the time, but has happened 2~3 times randomly. What could this whining sound be? Would this issue lead to further problems I should look at?

it could just be a loud rotary LOL

Sounds like a bearing issue inside the transmission. When you shift to a higher gear, you are reducing engine speed and the speed of the input shaft in the transmission. If it were the diff, it wouldn't be related to engine speed. I don't see how the noise would come and go however, unless it's oil related? Check / have someone check your transmission fluid level.

And for the engine code, use this guide: http://www.johnr.com/cpucodes.html to see if you can't figure out what the error is.

I don't suppose a loud rotary would make that kind of a sound... lol


Okay... Transmission was my top guess too. I just wasn't sure and hoped it wouldn't be the bearing or the transmission fluid.

Yeah, I'm most confused with why the noise come and go(sometimes it's fine without noise). In the beginning I thought it was either the brake rotor was wrapping, or the calipers were grinding against it(sounded like that... freaked me out during the first time). Then I thought it may have been the handbrake, cause one time while I was driving and the noise came, the handbrake warning light was going on and off for a while along with the noise. But then the warning light never appeared again with the noise.

If it were the differentials, then what would it relate to, seeing that it's not the engine speed? would it be turning/cornering then?

I'm sending the car into a local specialized shop tomorrow, should be able to find out soon. Thanks a lot for the info!

Mine is doing the same thing but it only happens above 5k rpms. I was messing with the alternator and when I tightened the belt it stopped for a while. Could it just be a belt whining?

It could be, at least when I took the car to the shop, the mechanic told me it's most likely the belts(while pulling the loose belts to let me see). I should be able to find out soon.

Well let me know what it turns out to be because I still have this problem intermittently

Some times is just the dif

The whining sound turns out to be the alternator belt. It snapped on me just a day before I was sending it to the shop.

However, similar situation happened again after I got the car back from the shop. This time the alternator belt came loose, and got warped into the pulleys.

Now I'm suspecting there may be a greater issue, like alternator alignment is off. Hope that's not the case.

The alt belt wasn't overtightened, was it?

Might want to check any other belts you still have installed...

Yee
 

Probobly your transmission.. Replace fluid

my alt has been missing the alignment washer on the pivot side for a year now... no misalignment problems so far. and yep sounds like a belt

Are you sure that the main drive shaft pully's are still aligned properly? Cause my bearings in my pully's are starting to go bad, and they tend to make a grinding/whining noise and its not to bad yet but it still can be heard every once in a while.