Whining at slow speeds - United Bimmer Community

**highalpine** · 06-07-2008, 09:15 AM

Hi all. New to this board, but it looks great! I have a '01 740i sport (pic's to come) which has been great since I got it last year. Whenever I drive it after about 15 minutes, at slow speeds I hear a whine which seems to be located around the passenger seat area. It's not the tranny cause the pitch doesn't vary with the engine speed, only with the speed of the car. Seems to go away above 30 mph. Anybody have a clue as to what it might be?

**m3flyer** · 06-08-2008, 12:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by highalpine

Hi all. New to this board, but it looks great! I have a '01 740i sport (pic's to come) which has been great since I got it last year. Whenever I drive it after about 15 minutes, at slow speeds I hear a whine which seems to be located around the passenger seat area. It's not the tranny cause the pitch doesn't vary with the engine speed, only with the speed of the car. Seems to go away above 30 mph. Anybody have a clue as to what it might be?

...several possibilities.

1) alternator bearing (most notorious for the low speed whine from the engine compartment).

2) power steering pump (notorious for mystery noise transmitted via the chassis of the car).

3) air pump (notorious for mystery noise transmitted via the chassis of the car).

4) Something in the brake area engaging the rotor at low speed (or just heard at low speed).

5) a low speed right ft. or right rr. wheel bearing noise...???

It is hard to say without being there.

There are other "rotating mass whines".

But "the expensive", "the horrible" and "the difficult to pin down" are a matter for a technician...

You could start with the afforementioned enumerated five first. They are relatively painless to fix.

IMHO... a auto stethoscope is sometimes very useful in this type of situation (Pep Boys and Auto Zone sell these).

Hope this helps...