Need help... ASAP

[///M_Drift]

I'm not sure what's wrong here... but when I'm on the gas, or even in gear letting it wind down the RPMs... I hear a high pitched whistling noise coming from the engine bay. Its really noticable driving through town because the sound echo's off of parked cars and buildings. I popped the hood and played with the throttle a little and noticed my VANOS is growling/rattling at higher RPMS, like maybe 2500-3000. Any advice here? I'm going to a mechanic tomorrow morning to have it checked out. How much is a new VANOS unit, I heard upwards of $800 at the dealership from a friend of mine. But I'm not sure how true that is.

Also, the sound goes away when it is not in gear or the clutch is in.

I know theres a search button, but I didn't come up with anything dealing with a whistle noise, and also for all I know it might not even be the VANOS

[///M_Drift]

bump, 25 views and no insight?

[///M3 CRAZY]

vanos sounds like a bunch of marbles in a can. a whining noise sounds more like a rear main seal.

tranny gotta come out to replace it.

[///M_Drift]

Well I haven't noticed the marbles in a can sound from the vanos.. maybe I just didn't take notice to the sound it made at higher RPMs from the engine bay. Would the fact that the whistling noise only occurs: when the car is in gear or when I am on the gas, have anything to do with the rear main seal? I'm gonna stop down at a local mechanic that is a friend of mine tomorrow morning and let him take it for a drive. He's pretty good at finding things that are wrong that I can't put my finger on.

[///M_Drift]

He said it sounds like a throw-out bearing. Guess thats better than the VANOS, but still gotta pay a lot in labor to drop out the tranny to fix it.

[Bill]

when does a rear main seal make a noise???

Throw out bearing would be my guess, or the bearings in the tranny

[pw455]

M_drift, were you ever able to find the source of this whistling?

I think I'm hearing the same noise on my car, but it really doesn't sounds like the throw-out bearing or rear-main seal. My first thought was I had a leaf or something caught in the air-filter that was whistling, but found nothing in the airway. I haven't been able to pinpoint the sound, but it appears to be coming from around the alternator. Any ideas?

Thanks,
Pete