Turned out not to be the air filter....

The diagnostic check indicated no problems whatsoever

This noise is a LOW DECIBEL, HIGH PITCHED noise that only occurs at part-full throttle under heavy load: up a hill in low gears/low revs or any other time when the engine is trying to eek out torque down low. It sounds more like a squeal than a whistle and developed into a full-blown squeal while we were running the Dragon at S2K Days. It does NOT occur at all at full throttle. After I picked up the car, I found a clear stretch of road and redlined it in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd and the car ran beautifully as it usually does.

Anybody have any suggestions/ideas??? I told the dealer I thought it might be a belt tensioner that wasn't working properly or a loose pulley.

 

My car has had a squeal or high pitched whistle for over a year. I only hear it at lower speeds / lower RPM's in lower gears when accelerating. Although it sounds (from the drivers seat) to be coming from the left front of the car I've assumed that it was intake related. Last week a by-stander commented that he could hear my supercharger as I drove by. I haven't got a SC but it does kind of sound like it when the sound starts.

 

CG, that sounds like the same sound that I have

 

My Maxima does that and Im told it's a tensioner pulley.

 

Let me know if you figure out what it is. I've kind of gotten used to it but it can be pretty loud. If you're driving beside a wall or something it can echo off of you realize that other people are hearing it too.

Bernie, do we need to worry about it if it's a tensioner pulley?

 

I was having a constant howl/squeal from my air cleaner assembly. The stock air filter has a peg to guide the placement of the filter. I didn't put it back into the peg and thus it was aligned improperly. Took care of my problem. May want to double check your filter assembly.

[Edited by John MI blk/blk '01 on 05-25-2001 at 11:38 AM]

 

I've been meaning to post this problem for a while now.

Like you guys are saying this is is a low-decible high-pitch squeel (not quite a whistle) that occurs during mid-full throttle openings at low RPM. Sounds like something is blowing off pressure. I would love to know what this is as well. Maybe we should post this over in Under the Hood.

 

I've got it too. Never really noticed it untill I put the RM intake on (used/no instructions/thought maybe I goofed somewhere).

It is a very short little whistle/squeel that occurs pricisely when I first hit the gas and let the clutch out (could be any gear but @ low RPM). You would think it wasn't too annoying, but I've got a bunch of speed bumps on the road through my neighborhood. I have to hear it alot!