Whistling from bonnet ? Alternator

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4 Feb 2006
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544
Location
nottingham
first of all I know nothing about diagnosing car problems. Need to prewarn.

I recently purchased a Nissan Almera 1.5, just under 2 weeks ago. I have had a niggles which they sorted already however I am left with the following problem.

- When I start off driving 10-25 mph, there seems no problem at first. After increasing to 30 upto whatever speed I begin to hear a whistling sound, it sounds like someone blowing onto a bottle, very offputting.

- Its less noticeable when the windows are up. I know that its coming from the alternator area when I put my ear to the front grille or get a pipe from a hover put my ear to it, I hear the exact sound I get while driving, somehow the noise seems to travel into the car.

- It doesnt matter what speed I a doing I am guessing that 25 is just fast enough for the noise / air to travel hence hear the noise, that and a combination of wind noise which is common to this car, it also does not matter if its in gear, or what rpm I am doing it makes the same note.

So I went back to the main dealer, they simply said it is road noise. The noise is so offputting when driving as I know its there.

I can however hear this noise when the car is stationary when I put my ear to the engine bay. So this is clearly not the case, and I am most dissatisfied what Ive been told. However I do not feel comfortable going back to the same main dealer, as I know they will say the same thing.

I checked all seals, which all seem ok, nothing is loose inside the bonnet. It had a service 100 miles ago, so I am suprised this was not picked up. I am gonna phone up the other 2 dealerships of Sunwin tomorow and see if they can get a second opionion.

The car itself was sold to me with a engine and electronics warrenty surely this should cover alturnator or its internal bearing ? or belt?

by the way the garage have already checked if its a wheel bearing. I am 100% sure that the whistle is coming from the bonnet

Is there anything more I can do to diagnose this problem ? Can anyone give me any futher advise

David.
 
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go to a good little local garage and explain what the problem is, any decent mechanic will take it for a spin and listen for the noise and probably be able to tell you what it is straight away.

If it makes the noise when your not moving now open the bonnet and stick your head in while the engine is running.

Find a Nissan forum and ask there, while there see if there are any suggestions on local dealers that are good. As the owner of a VW i can verfiy that some dealers are utter pants while others are amazing, it may be worth you looking around.
 
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