[Kaj Hallstrom]

At cold start I get this whining noise on and off. It does sound like a belt slipping, not sure. After a few minutes it goes away. Engine seems to work fine and there are no further noises as I drive the car. I had all belts checked recently and the balance belt adjusted.

 

Any course for alarms?

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[Bulti]

It still could be the V-belt. It should be pretty tight. Maybe on check-up, they didn't tighten it enough.

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[Ryan]

If it is a whine and not a screech, you may have low power steering fluid or the pump going south.

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[94SilverCab]

I usually just give her a blanket and turn the heat up a bit...bad um bum!

 

Jay

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[MCL968]

If it goes away after a few minutes, it's probably just alternator whine. The alternator has to recharge the battery after starting the car, and sometimes that will generate a whine as the alternator ages.

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[Langley968]

If it is a whine and not a screech, you may have low power steering fluid or the pump going south.

That’s what happened to my 968 recently. Lines were leaking fluid and at low levels there was a whining noise. Fixed the leaks and all is good ( including a cleaner garage floor!).

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[ds968]

Diagnosing noises over the Internet is like getting a haircut over the phone .


Having said that...

Belts squealing noises on start typically last only a few seconds . Maybe ten seconds at the most .

Whining could be indeed low power steering fluid ( my Mercedes did that recently ) , but you will continue to hear that noise even after then car warms up , when driving very slowly , and of course when turning, also when driving at low speeds .

Whirring/ more metallic-sounding whine could be alternator bearings staring to go bad.

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[rxter]

When I had my balance shaft belt replaced there was a horrible whine upon start up.  The belt was a bit tight but it stretched out after a week or so and the whine went away.

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[Cloud9...68]

Yes, I was going to comment on the balance shaft belt as well.  They whine like crazy when cold if they're set too tight, and the whine often goes away after the engine has warmed up.  I once had set by balance shaft belt too tight after a belt change, and had the whine when cold.  But I thought it would go away after the belt stretched, so I let it go a few hundred miles, but the whine never went away, or even decreased in intensity in the slightest.  This has made me highly skeptical of Porsche's recommendation to re-check the BS belt tightness after a few hundred miles.  Yes, I'm calling BS on the BS, lol.

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[ds968]

Oh, THAT belt ..hmm, never thought they'd make any noise, just vibrations if not properly set. Good to know.

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[Bulti]

I too had the whine with a new (Conti) belt. It was set too tight. After re-adjustment it was far less, and only when cold. After a while it went away completely. And it stayed that way.


So the BS on the BS is not complete BS in my case.

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[Cloud9...68]

Bulti,

 

Interesting - maybe the degree to which the belt stretches after initial install is a function of the brand.  I've always used Gates, and as I said above, the whining didn't change one iota over several hundred miles.  The fact that the noise went away after the car warmed up tells me I didn't have it that tight, so I expected the noise when cold to go away over time, but it didn't.  Ever since this experience, I've never re-tensioned my belts after a belt job, because getting the tension and the clearances right is such a royal pain in the a$$, because moving the eccentric in the direction the tightens the belt, increases the gap, and vice versa.  If you could just go in and move things in the direction of tightening the belt, without having to loosen the whole assembly and essentially start the whole procedure over, I would do it, but given my experience with my whiny belt, it just isn't worth it.

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[ds968]

I recall reading posts here ( unconfirmed stories , so they may be just that ; " stories " ) about balance belts loosening up to the point where they ride up on the edge of the pulley / roller causing them to eventually split , and take out the timing belt . Anyone care to chime in on that whether that's a mere theory or there have actually been documented incidents of this happening ?

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[Bulti]

Cloud, you are absolutely right about the pain in the butt thing. My belts are due again this summer, and I'm not looking forward to it. But, when the thing makes too much noise when driving, it's either fixing it or putting the car on fire.


So I choose to repeat the process until I get it right ;-))


I will compare my old Conti belt with a new one to see if the edges of the ribs are more rounded or not. Maybe the Conti belt have to run in a bit more than other brands.


In any case, there is quite a margin between too tight and too loose. When too loose, the belt will almost immediately skip a tooth and the engine vibrates and when too tight it whines excessively.


I'm pretty confident I will get it right the first go this time.

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[Kaj Hallstrom]

I can report to you all that when I purchased my 968 three years ago there was no record of timing belt change with the car now at 59000 miles. I took it in for that big service right away and guess what they found. A broken balance shaft belt in the bottom of the cover. No warning what so ever. Car running smooth with no vibrations. "I was very lucky" they said. This could easily have caused an disruption of the timing belt and a catastrophe to follow.........so to every new owner (old as well) keep an eye on your belts...all of them ....all the time.

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[ds968]

When my timing belt broke it was completely torn and shredded into a half dozen strips . Completely severed in one spot . The balance belt however was not only fully intact and in its place , but on close inspection it was in nearly perfect shape . Oh, how I wish it would have been the reverse scenario . Both belts were Conti ( the PO was the one who had them changed just before he sold me the car ) and both replaced at the same time of course ..

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[apex]

In the recent cold weather I have also heard a squeal for a few seconds when starting and turning, but in my case it's definitely power steering making the racket. Maybe the cold messes with the o-rings in the rack? (Ha! Space Shuttle talk!) But I know that power steering sound - not a slipping belt - not the alternator, which is new. It's the PS "starved for fluid" sound - but just lasts a second or two.

 

And PS to Bulti - I'm due for belts this spring as well. We can commiserate together.

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[Bulti]

Apex that's nice to hear. I will definitely need somebody to complain to at one point or another ;-)

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[Cloud9...68]

Yeah, this car's ridiculous belt design is enough to drive me to do one of these before my next belt change (my apologies for having already posted this on another thread, but it just looks so cool, especially for a track car like mine):

 

http://www.motorwerksracing.com/porsche-...-18t-swap/

 

Look how beautifully simple that belt looks!  No balance shaft needed on such a small displacement engine.  If the Dow keeps going the way it's been, I may just go forward with this!

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[MLB]

Thats cool, Cloud thanks for the reminder

How much for Stage 2 i wonder?

My engine could use a rebuild anyway, so...

DIY vs them? :0)

Hey, gotta find things to smile and dream about during a long Wisconsin winter!

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