Hi Pitch Squeal from the Engine

[spgribben007]

I'm wondering if anybody could throw some light on my situation before I take my 2001 Boxster to the shop. Maybe it's something I could do in the garage and save some major $$$.

I was driving home yesterday (25 miles, highway) and started to notice a hi pitch sqeal around me. At first, I thought the window might have not sealed properly and kept driving. Then, after searching for the noise I thought it was brake/wheel issue but after I got off the highway to make the stop the whinning was still there and annoying. There are no oil leaks and the oil level is good. No CEL lights, so I thought maybe a tension pulley has gone bad and it's the belt making all the noise. Went home and before pulling it into the garage I parked the car in the driveway. I had to remove my the hard top then pulled the car in the garage. That's when I noticed a lot of smoke coming from the back of the car.

I don't have a good feeling about this but I'm trying to stay optimistic. The boxster has 77,000 miles and still drives with a lot of pep even thru this inicident (no power lost). Has anyone experienced this before???

[vath2001]

From the description... frozen idler/tension pulley. Which smoked your belt. Or one of the belt driven units just went bad... alternator, water pump, etc.

Not good. Good luck.

[Paul]

Very easy to check, just pop the engine cover behind your seats.

[spgribben007]

I got a chance to look at the main belt behind the seats and it looks pretty good. I started the engine to look and listen to the annoying squeal and there was white smoke coming from the muffler and no noise. Any more suggestions?

[jmatta]

Maybe the cat died that was stuck in there?

Didn't someone mention this could be an AOS issue? Perhaps I read this on another post, but the symptoms sound similar.

[stateofidleness]

does it change pitch or volume as you rev?

i recectly had what i called a "whine" and it turned out to be my alternator shifted allowing the belt to misalign break my idler pulley..

check all your pulleys for tightness (no loose bearings) and that the belt is lined up properly... i also read somewhere that it could be the alternator trying to seize (or anything connected to the belt really) but the tension from the belt was making it turn anyway, causing the whine..

somethin' to think about.

[spgribben007]

The whine did change in pitch especially when going up a hill and changing gears from fourth to fifth but I don't know about the white smoke coming from the exhaust.

[jmatta]

Refer to this post...definately sounds like an AOS problem, just as this fella's was.

http://www.renntech.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=24210&hl=High+Pitch

[spgribben007]

thanks jmatta for the info.