What makes you question his diagnosis? And if you don't trust his ability, why is he your mechanic? If the noise comes on at low RPM and goes away after 2.5K as you indicated, that leads me to think it's a pulley, bearing, or a belt. I'm leaning toward the regular belt and the pulley might be to blame.

Eliminate what the mechanic told you first. He's got first hand knowledge of your specific car. And I don't think it's electrical at all because you'd be complaining of hearing the whining through the speakers, not in the engine bay.

Big Mack

 

Remove ur belt and try to see if noise is still there that's what I would do first.

 

Not sure why, but when I do oil changes it's not at the right level unless I put in 6 quarts.

 

I have that whine noise as well. I had the dealership listen to it and they determined to be the bearing in the alternator....which is under warranty.

But don't rule out your p/s....if it goes out...your rack and pinion is going to crap and that is not good at all...talk about taking your money.

 

Okay, So from what you guys told me it could be a few things:

Bad Ground somewhere
Power Steering pump going out
Alternator bearing going out
Alternator going out due to PS fluid dripping into it

Or

It's just my wallet whining in the center arm rest.

I'm thinking it's the last one. I'll have my mechanic take a look at all the above. Hoping it something that's not TOO costly of a fix. Thanks again for the help guys!

And Chrispy, IDK why but i'm thinking my car's the same way. But the last three times i changed my oil it took just a little more than 5.5 QT's and it was at the perfect level. I checked the oil this morning and it was just a little below the halfway mark so it looks fine now. Weird The oil did look really dark already...

 

man its been raining hard as hell, prolly ur belts are just wet from the rain... or thier old n loose... hahaha dunno but chrispy... i put a lil extra cuz i got leaks! LOLLL gota change my seals.

 

It all depends how big your oil filter is. Mines a 4.3 and I put 5.5-5.6 qtz and it's right above top. If you are losing minor oil after the oil change, your car is burning oil.

 

Just trade me for my 99 gs3 w 60k miles lol

 

Bad Grounding: Is there anything else that dims or anything like that with the engine at idle? Blinkers, interior lights?

For some reason this reminds me of when my p/s reservoir was clogged at the filter. Pull it off and check if there's any debris that's lodged itself in or on there. Does the whining change sound when you turn the steering wheel?

 

The lights don't dim or anything like that. But the sound does slightly change when i move the steering wheel. I'm starting to guess it something with the power steering pump...

 

The PS pump in my 400 just took a dump. The pulley was only making the feintest noise, but the pulley was coming out of balance, and effectively destroying itself. Had the pump replaced, all better. If I remember it was around $400-$500 P & L.

To it's credit, it did last 13 years, and 185K miles. Pop the hood while engine is idling. If you see ANY wobble on the PS pump pulley, she's a goner.

 

I bet its Power Steering pump, I had the same exact problem.

 

Sounds just like what happened to me. Sound would go away based on RPM's. May have been a bad bearing, but I just replaced the whole thing.