HI, I dough its a belt.. take a piece of hose about 3 ft. long.. put one end to your ear and move the other end around the motor paying attention to anything that is turning while the motor is running.. touch things like the alternator, water pump (If you can see it) power steering. you should be able to hear where the noise is coming form ... I'm think you have a pulley or one of the above items going out..
good luck
tim
You say you don't want to take it to a mechanic, and you want to fix it yourself, but the problem is you don't know what it is. So how are you supposed to fix it? Just take it to a mechanic. All I've ever had are old cars, and I've NEVER been charged just for checking something out. If you are, it means you need to find a new place.
If it's a sound from an unknown source, what makes you think it's the belt? It could be a dozen different things.
It sounds o me like it is a bad alternator bearing or an idler pulley bearing. Very common problems at 165K.
-Ken
I have a 2007 Sonata with 165,000 miles. The belts seem tight and the last time I was at a mechanic, a few months ago, an overall test said they were fine. However, about a month or so ago a whirring sound, similar to a Dust Buster, started to come from the engine. It goes up with the RPM. I tried turning on and off all electronics to no effect. The noise isn't very loud, but is different. I can't really tell where it is coming from, but it is not the power steering and the location may be near the alternator. Could it just be aging belts, and would a belt spray/treatment help?
The car doesn't seem to have other issues. I maintain it well. No check engine lights, regular (high mileage) oil changes, the gas mileage has been a consistent 29.4 MPG.
Having a car with such high mileage, I don't like to bring it to the mechanic for every little thing -- that could get expensive -- so I try to do simple fixes myself. If this can be solved by spending $5 at Auto Zone, great!
Ideas?
