WP Fiesta engine whine

[dannyhilton]

Hey.

Firstly, I love my Fords but by no means am I an expert eith engines! My 04 Fiesta has suddenly started making a horrible engine whine. I always warm my car up, then it's after it's warmed up a really high pitched whine starts. It varys from very high to moderatly high. Somethimes it's predominent, sometimes it starts and then stops for a while and then starts again. I've looked under the bonnet and it seems to be comming from where all the belts are? I've looked all over the net, but the responses vary so much. Timing belt, alternaters, fan belt, fan, gearbox??? This used to happen for a few seconds every so often, but latley it's every moring. Mind you it's very cold where i am, could this be the issue? Have recorderd the noise but it wont upload?. Any suggestions would be a massive help. Thanks.

[Piotr]

How many KM's on the clock? Could be due to have belts replaced

Also have a look at the power steering fluid levels.

[Twinpiston]

Could be water pump as well or power steering pump or even an idler arm!

[dannyhilton]

I just had a look at the power steering fluid level, and it's like a mm below max. All other fluids are perfect too (the oil is like 4mm over max though, I got the dealer to change the oil about two months ago, I thought over-filling the oil was BAD?) The car has 96,000km on it. I got the car at about 70,000, and it has always had full services, along with additional 5,000km oil changes and it is always warmed up. I just recordered the noise but it's in some stupid format which can not be read? Is changing the belt an expensive task, the engine barely fits in the engine bay so getting to the belts would be fun!!!! LOL

It's a very high pitched sound, as as soon as the car warms up it begins. From there you can hear it under 2000rpm. It comes and goes. With so many km I suppose it could be everything, water pump and the belts LOL!

Thanks for the reply guys

[LethalLeigh]

From memory there are some WPs that had to have water pumps replaced at one point though if I remember right it was more for a leak than a whine/bearing noise. I'd be looking at the accessories belt since if it's the original it's had a pretty long life.

[dannyhilton]

Have booked the car in the get looked at on Friday. The belts seem to have a lot of slack in them and the guy reconds they are pretty worn so fingers crossed that's it! Thanks for everyones suggestions, will let you know of an update when it comes to hand.

[Piotr]

IIRC the 1.6L needs to get belts done every 100,000km.

[dannyhilton]

Originally Posted by Piotr

IIRC the 1.6L needs to get belts done every 100,000km.

yeah just the belt. all is good now (apart from the usual few rattles, goddam these horrible roads!!!). replaced the belt and it's perfect, cleaned the engine and heaps more go in it, revs a lot easier and so much smoother to start. cold moring starts no longer rattle the whole car. a good EXPENSIVE service is all it needed. thanks for all your help guys, appreciate it! :