Let my problems begin

[wizardstsi]

For the last few days I have been hearing a whinning sound coming from the driver side of the engine. I thought maybe it was a belt ready to give out. It would do it at idle but when ever I gave it gas it would go away. Also, if I shut the engine off then turned it back on the sound would go away.

The battery is fully charged but the battery light just came on. If it were the alternator i would think that it would be dead by now.
Any ideas? Sounds like I have a supercharger in there FTW

[Jason5driver]

Tensioners?

[wizardstsi]

Tensioners?

Could it be? Maybe they are failing and when I drive it the alternator is too stressed?
When I turned it back on the battery light was off and it only whinned a little bit

[Jason5driver]

Could it be? Maybe they are failing and when I drive it the alternator is too stressed?
When I turned it back on the battery light was off and it only whinned a little bit

Please take your car to an independent BMW mechanic/tech.

[FrankMstein]

what he ^ said

[Palantirion]

Please take your car to an independent BMW mechanic/tech.

+1! If you need a recommendation, call Dinan and ask them what independents in your area they recommend.

[wizardstsi]

The only independent shop around here is Pacific Motorsports, but they are not open on the weekends. Sad.

I was letting my uncle listen to the sound it was making. It was running, sounded like something grinding, then died. I was hoping to drive it the 10 blocks to the shop, oh well

[wizardstsi]

Does anyone think it might be the water pump? It makes a really loud scrapping noise and with multiple people listening we narrowed it down in that area.

[yacob555]

I had that exact same thing happen to my probe, i know it's a probe and it's uncomparable, but it turned out to be a faulty alternator that just eventually went out on me, but yeah man, get it checked out before something horrible happens

[wizardstsi]

I had that exact same thing happen to my probe, i know it's a probe and it's uncomparable, but it turned out to be a faulty alternator that just eventually went out on me, but yeah man, get it checked out before something horrible happens

I'm just praying it's not because its water cooled and very expensive. I was hoping to drive the car on fathers day, nice present
Will be my first F day! Im excited

[Paintballistic]

I'm just praying it's not because its water cooled and very expensive. I was hoping to drive the car on fathers day, nice present
Will be my first F day! Im excited

congrats on the kid bro!

[Drum]

Check out the clutch on the mechanical fan. Mine seized on a trip a while back and your description of the noise sounds similar to what I heard when that happened.

Good luck,
D

[Qsilver7]

Have you unlocked your OBC? If so, you can do TEST #9 (WITH the engine running) and you can see how the system (alternator) is charging while you're driving around. It should stay somewhere above 13.6 volts (it may move around but should consistently be above 13.6v).

When the ignition is in POSITION 1 or 2 and the engine is NOT running...you will get a reading of the battery's health..and it should consistently read between 12.1v-12.8v.

To unlock your OBC is VERY easy...and once it's unlocked...it only takes a few seconds to run a TEST or you could leave the TEST running the whole time your driving around.

Every week I invariably suggest to someone to UNLOCK their OBC...I'm not sure if many do because they have to search for the instructions. Well, just in case someone doesn't feel like searching...below are the instructions on how to UNLOCK the OBC if you have the HIGH CLUSTER (the instrument cluster with the 20 digit alpha/numeric display). To unlock the LOW CLUSTER...go to www.bmwtips.com ...there are instructions there on how to unlock the low cluster which only has one button (on the left side) of the instrument cluster.

INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO UNLOCK THE OBC (on the high instrument cluster)

Here is the procedure to unlock the system to get access to all 21 tests: (you're basically adding up the last 5 digits of your car's VIN...then you go to TEST #19 and enter the sum/value of whatever number you just came up with )

• Turn ignition to position 1 (position II can be used but the FASTEN YOUR SEATBELT warning stays on and won't relinquish the display until you buckle up )
• Push right button in the instrument cluster and keep it pushed. You will first see "Check Control OK", some seconds later you will see "Test Nr.01"
• Push the left button on the instrument cluster to see the car's identification number. Add the 5 digits together and write down that number, you will need it for unlocking all the functions. Example: DG23278 will lead to 2+3+2+7+8 = 22
• Push the right button until you see "Test Nr.19"
• Push left button until you see the number that is equal to the one you calculated above
• Push right button again

Now you will have unrestricted access to Test No.3-21. If you made an error in the procedure mentioned above, Test No.3-21 will only display Lock:ON

List of TESTS:

1. Display Car's identification number, HW/SW version, construction date
2. Instrument cluster test...lights & gauges
3. Current consumption (liters/hour)
4. Average consumption (liters/100 km)
5. Current range
6. I think this is remaining fuel in tank. Three sets of numbers: A/B/C. And I've noticed A+B=C.
7. Engine RPM / Coolant Temp (C)
8. Current Speed (kph)
9. System voltage at Term. "R" (Battery Voltage with engine NOT running || Alternator w/engine running)
10. Country/Language (US, Spa, Ger, Jap, etc.)
11. Units am/pm
12. Average Speed
13. GONG/Chime Sounds
14. Date of Software Mask
15. Production Diagnosis
16. Oel Temp (oil temp...but nothing will display)
17. Display Vehicle Specific Data
18. Alarm Changeover (cont. vs. intermittent OBC chime)
19. Lock/Unlock
20. Correction factor for fuel consumption (nicht ändern!)
21. Reset all defect codes

This is what appears in the display:

1. Several numbers and data
2. [Dispay Test]
3. VBR: x,x (liters/hr)
4. RW-VBR: x,x (liters/100 km)
5. RW: x (km)
6. T: (liters)
7. TMTL: x,x (liters) / KTMP C
8. V: x (kph)
9. UB: xx,xx (V)
10. LAND: 2=USA, 3=I, 4=E, 5=J, 6=F, 7=CDN, 8=AUS/GOLF, 0=D, 1=GB
11. EINHEIT 1: B3, B4, B5, B6, B7, B8, B9, BA, BB, BC, BD, BE, BF, B0, B1 EINHEIT 2: [similar to above, I didn't want to mess with it]
12. VANK: xx,x (kph)
13. GONG
14. ROM:
15. DIAG: 01 01 000 E3
16. OEL TEMP (only words appear, the actual oil temp won't display)
17. PROM: 00 12, 01 37, 02 18, 03 E6, 04 02, 05 B3, 06 FF, 07 7E
18. HORN: DTON or [DTON flashing]
19. LOCK: ON
20. KVBR: 1000
21. RESET

The video below shows how easy & quick it is to do any of the TESTs once you've unlocked the OBC. The video below shows the owner doing TEST #2...after inserting the key into the ignition...you see him press the RIGHT instr cluster button until TEST 01 appears...then he presses the RIGHT button again to go to TEST #2...the presses the LEFT button to initiate the TEST:

[ame]http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=89hf_vQfyGE[/ame]

[wizardstsi]

congrats on the kid bro!

Thanks!

[wizardstsi]

Check out the clutch on the mechanical fan. Mine seized on a trip a while back and your description of the noise sounds similar to what I heard when that happened.

Good luck,
D

I came to this conclusion shortly after posting earlier. Hopefully this is what it is!

Qsilver7, THANK YOU. Check control says ok, but will be running these other test later after I open my presents from my son (aka myself )

[wizardstsi]

Alternator is running in specs when I did the test. Hopefully taking car down to shop tomorrow when I get off work (graveyard sucks)

[rocketwagon]

My impeller pulley made the exact same noise shortly before it scattered itself around my engine compartment. Might want to check that out.