Ticking noise coming from alternator area....

[BMW M Power]

hey,

the last few days, i have been noticing an odd ticking noice coming from either the alternator, or the ps pump, or somewhere around that area.

any idea what it could be? it just ticks (tick..tick..tick). and as the engine speed increases, so does the noise. so i know it has something to do with a pump, just not sure what one.

anyone else had anything like this? i'm completley stumpped.

i'm going to have the dealer check it out this coming week, but i'd like to have an idea of what it is.

[JamesM3M5]

Could be a bad pulley bearing or a bad tensioner piston as well. It's doubtful that the PS pump or alternator bearings are bad, but still possible. Let's hope not, they're significantly more expensive than the idlers and tensioners.

[BMW M Power]

now, lets say its just a bad tensioner (belt is still nice and tight) or an idler pulley.

is it still ok to drive the car?

[JamesM3M5]

Yes. Just stay out of the high rev ranges.

A bad tensioner may still hold tension, but it is also fluid damped. If the seals leak, it will not hold consistent tension on the belt, as in the belt tensioner can vibrate.

Ohh, just remembered, one friend had a bad BELT that clicked/popped every time the frayed section of the belt went over a pulley. He bought a new PS pump instead of checking the belt, first.

[BMW M Power]

damn.

i need to get this fixed ASAP. hope my warranty covers it!!

i have an auto-x this coming weekend

[Mantic]

I agree check the small things first but I have a hard time thinking a tensioner would make a ticking sound.

[JamesM3M5]

Not likely, but still a possibilty. Bad pulley bearings or bad belt are my first guess.

[Mantic]

Maybe injectors?

[BMW M Power]

no, not injectors.

the noise is coming from the alternator area. its centered around that area. it sounds like its either the alternator or ps pump

[Mantic]

no, not injectors.

the noise is coming from the alternator area. its centered around that area. it sounds like its either the alternator or ps pump

Gotcha.. Well I guess the best thing to do is to take it in and have it checked out under CPO,.

[BMW M Power]

thats the plan


i just hope they dont get all pissy about some of my mods, cuz i really dont feel like taking anything off the car

[OldM3]

Well if you take it in let me know what it was. I have the same problem and I think its my alternator bearings.

[BMW M Power]

i will let you know. i plan on taking it in tomorrow, and talking to them. hopefully they will be able to fix it by this weekend

[BMW M Power]

UPDATE!

My UUC underdrive pullies arrived in the mail today, thanks to Jon at www.MPerformance.com !!!

so i decided to go see what the heck was wrong with my car, so i could have some idea of what to tell the dealership when my car goes in on thursday.

and what do i notice? a HUGE section of the ribs on the belt were missing. guess thats why it was making a noise when it went over the alternator pulley. i guess it must have been caused by me beating it up at willow springs the other weekend.

so i was "FORCED" to install my Underdrive Pullies (which included a new belt), and sure enough, the sound went away!!!!!

thanks all for your help, i really appreciate it!!!

and i love having the problem be the little thing that you look over and not notice!!

Later
Brent

[Bernanke]

make sure sparkplugs are torque down to 19ft lb, i had same problem, turned out to be spark plugs

[Bernanke]

hey guys. My alternator is whining like no other. sounds like a supercharger. is it bad to run on a noisy alternator or is it just annoying? like will it still be safe to drive the car on a noisy alternator?

[RiPrete]

I know this is an old thread but if someone looks at this in the future I'll share my problem. I had the exact same problem and I thought it might be the tensioner or the water pump because that was wearing out so maybe the bearing in it was just bad. I replaced the water pump and the tensioner and the idler pulley. Put it all back together and noise is still there. I watch it while it runs and noticed the alternator pulley was rocking sideways a bit. I pulled the belt back off and tried pulling the alternator pully side to side and it did and when I did that it made a clicking noise. the bearing was bad in the alternator pulley and that's all it was. the tensioner and idler were both worn out so I feel like that could of cause the wearing on the alternator.