It’s never fun to hear your car making whining noises when accelerating. Not only is it worrisome because you have no idea what could be going wrong, but it’s also loud and embarrassing. Now other people are looking at you wondering why your car is making that awful noise. Overtime it’s normal for your car to develop some wear and tear on its parts. And this normal degrading of the parts can cause it to make noises that it didn’t use to make.
So what does that whining noise when accelerating mean? Well, there are a few different issues that may be the root of the problem. Unfortunately there isn’t just one clear-cut answer. You’ll have to do some digging to figure out what’s really going on. It may be a relatively small issue that you can fix or you may need to take it to a mechanic. Luckily, we’ve outline the main causes below so that you can figure out where the whining is coming from and what to do next.
As mentioned before, there are multiple different reasons why your car is making that whining noise when you speed up. But there are a few very common causes that we will outline for you below. Those main causes are:
Now we go into all of them
The transmission system is a major factor in helping your car work properly. This is a great first place to check if your car is making noises while accelerating.
It may be because the gears may be worn out or you could have low transmission fluid. Refilling the fluid is a good place to start and an easy thing to solve, but if the whining noise continues after refilling it, the issue may be the gears.
The gears tend to make those noises when they are worn out ad if that’s the case you’ll need to replace them. This will cost you some money but isn’t too big of a deal.
Engine problems could also be the cause of that unwanted noise. There are a lot of parts in the engine that could be malfunctioning so it may be difficult to check them all. Obviously is something is seriously wrong with your engine that’s not a good thing.
To tell if it’s a problem with your engine, put the car in neutral and rev it a little. If it makes the whining sound again, then the issues is likely with your engine and you’ll want to have it looked at.
If the noise happens mostly when turning the steering wheel, your power steering system could have an issue. Leaks in the power steering can cause it to whine. Check for drips under your car and look in the steering rack for the leak. If you notice a leak, you can replace or fix the damaged parts.
If you drive a manual car the noise may also becoming form the clutch. If you hear the noise when you press on the clutch, the release bearing may be damaged. If the car isn’t moving and it makes noises when you press the clutch then you’ll want to take it to get looked at.
If you don’t have a manual car, then you’ll want to check the torque converter. This is only on manual cars and this part of your engine rotates when it’s running. If you hear the whining noise when switching gears, this is probably the issue. The torque converter may not be rotating correctly and needs to be adjusted or replaces.
Lastly, another common reason why your car makes a whining noise when accelerating is because the engine oil is low. When there isn’t enough oil the parts may rub together creating that awful noise. Check the oil level of your engine and refill it if necessary. This issue is easy to spot and also easy to fix.
When your car and all of its parts are functioning properly, you shouldn’t hear any whining noises. Actually you shouldn’t really hear any noise except for the low hum of the engine. If you’ve had your car for a long time and it starts making a whining noise while accelerating it probably just means that some parts are starting to wear down. This is normal and is usually an easy fix.
When you first hear the whining noise, try to figure out where it’s coming from and when exactly it occurs. You may hear it when accelerating but do you also hear it at other times too? And do you hear it when switching gears or turning the steering wheel? All of these details will give you clues about what the issue is. If you find that you can easily detect what the issue is and it’s a quick fix you can likely repair it by yourself.
If you feel comfortable with fixing it yourself you’ll be able to save some money, however repair parts still may cost you. If you can’t figure out what’s wrong or you don’t feel comfortable fixing it yourself, you can using best bluetooth obd2 scan tool to check common issues on you car before take it to shop.
But it’s best to take your car to a mechanic so they can run a complete diagnostic on the car and determine the issue. From there, they can best advice you on how to fix it and what to do moving forward.
If you hear that awful whining noise when accelerating it can immediately make you cringe and start to worry what has gone wrong with your car. That’s never a good feeling to have, especially when everything seems to be running fine.
Although it’s usually not a major issue, it does indicate that something isn’t working the way it should in your car. You definitely don’t want to ignore that noise though because if you don’t fix the problem it could become much more serious. Finding out what exactly the cause is and fixing it can be relatively easy if you know what you’re looking for.
