I know people have been talking about this in the past, I cannot find anything on this now using "search". Any help will be appreciated.

The sound is like a high pitched whining. Almost like the alternator whining from a poor stereo install. It's audible mostly between 3K to 4K RPM, specially when accellerating/decellerating between these RPMS in 3rd/4th gear. It comes from the rear axle area, definitely not the front of the car. It's quite audible and I'm wondering if it's normal.

Car is a MY2002 with 22K miles on it. It has been in an accident as well and had some suspension work done along with new control arms/struts/etc. The differential was not touched from what I know, other than the fact they towed the car without a flatbed, in neutral ofcourse and only for a couple miles.

Thank you for reading!

 

Such a high pitched whine tells me it's the diff. In it's 22K miles, have you ever changed the fluid? Maybe it's time, especially if you drive the car aggressively. If this doesn't fix the whine then you've either got a different problem or the diff is too far gone. Put some Mobil 1 75W90 synthetic in it. It might work wonders.

 

I've this type of whining in both my 02 and 03. It's not to the extent that I can hear it unless I'm actually listening for it with the radio off. I thought it was something wrong on my 02, but the dealership checked out the diff and it was fine. Same thing on my 03 with 1000 miles on it.

 

Yeah, it's not that loud and cannot be heard with the radio on. How exactly did the dealership check the diff?

I haven't had a chance to drive the car aggressively (cause of the accident) but I'll get the oil changed just in case.

Thank you guys

 

if its really loud and obvious, you got a serious problem. but i also have that noise but it is almost imposisible to hear if you have the radio on a at a reasonable level or without really paying attention to it. its normal, especially since how SECRET AP1 has the same noise on both of his cars.

 

I recently bought a brand new 2003 S2000.
It had the same noise. The sound is coming from the differential.
The dealer replaced the differential with a new one and the problem was fixed.

You should have the dealer check it out and get it fix since it is still under warranty.

 

is this similar to the whine of the transmission???

 

It is always really tough to answer questions like this as what you call a "whine" may not be what I call a "whine".
And no, a tranny should not "whine" either. But then, as in the above cases, it's also a matter of how loud. All mechanical parts make noise. Are you sure you are not referring to the "clutch rattle" issue?

 

True. In my case it's pretty close to the sound of alternator whine from the stereo. This makes it easy to convey to others in words, unless they have never heard an alternator whine.

Depending on the direction the sound is coming from, shouldn't it be easy to tell if it's the differential or the tranny? In my case it's surely coming from the rear, so it must be the differential.


[QUOTE]Originally posted by xviper
[B]
It is always really tough to answer questions like this as what you call a "whine" may not be what I call a "whine".
And no, a tranny should not "whine" either.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by mas
[B]True. In my case it's pretty close to the sound of alternator whine from the stereo. This makes it easy to convey to others in words, unless they have never heard an alternator whine.