There is a whirling sound coming from the engine bay of my 1997 Eclipse GS. The sound increases as the same rate as the rpms of the car. The sound is present whether in neutral or in gear. Hopefully i can post a video of it later today. This is my DD so i cant take too much down time or too much money.

Does it sound like a whistle kind of? I had this problem and the issue was an air leak in my intake manifold. Could be between the throttle body and manifold that's where mine was. Have you done anything to it lately?

No its not a whistling sound. It sounds like something metal rubbing against each other but my oil is ok.

I would guess its one of the pulleys, PS, or the alternator. To help diagnose you can remove one belt at a time to see if the noise goes away. It could also be a timing belt pulley so be careful with that

Not trying to be smart but you dont need new brake pads do ya?

no the sound is when I am not moving and moving. Its def the engine area.

I agree that it has to be a belt or pulley. Power steering pump/pulley or the alternator are the first things that come to mind.

Same thing i am thinking but wont have time to mess with the belts for at least 2 weeks

Originally posted by valdeelrico
I agree that it has to be a belt or pulley. Power steering pump/pulley or the alternator are the first things that come to mind.

I had the same sound in my engine. when I tore the engine down to freshen it up, I found out that the noise came from my timing belt tensioner pulley. it was on its way to locking up. some of the noise could have been due to my timing belt started rubbing on the oil pump and a faint ringing sound from the ring on the back side of the water pump pulley popping off. it was a complete mess in there. hopefully that's not the case for your engine.

Originally posted by 97GSBABY
Same thing i am thinking but wont have time to mess with the belts for at least 2 weeks

Originally posted by valdeelrico I agree that it has to be a belt or pulley. Power steering pump/pulley or the alternator are the first things that come to mind.

If you can get a video of it does can hear it as well would be nice.

Any luck?

How many miles on this car? Ever had engine work done like the head gasket or lower bearing work?


You'll have to open the hood and try to listen to where the noise is coming from.


Do you still have A/C? When the clutch and bearing assembly wears out it will make a whirling/grinding sound

Serpentine belt tensioner bearings also make a ton of racket when they go bad. Its the pulley tensioner located right up front.

And also whats been said previously - timing belt tensioner bearing, alternator, power steering, maybe the water pump? I'm just throwing out ideas on noises. I do this all day at work. Lol

Could also be the trans making noise and you hear it as though its the engine. Manual or auto trans? My manual trans had a bad input shaft bearing and it made a metal on metal noise that drove me absolutely crazy trying to find. *Hope thats not the case*