Thread: Parked Car For A Year And Now There Is A Loud Whistling In Engine Bay

Hey guys,

My car has been parked for about a year. I parked it with oil and some gas, but figured that shouldn't be a problem. I took it for a test drive and all seemed fine, but it did sound pretty loud at first before warming up. Once I parked it I noticed a loud high pitch whistling sound coming from the engine bay. I opened the hood and looked underneath and noticed a little bit of smoke from where the pumps were (could be burning up oil that spilled). The whistling sound went away once I revved the car a little and would stay away for a couple of minutes, but return. It didn't have this sound before, so I'm a little confused. Does anyone have any ideas of what might be causing it? I want to get the car registered tomorrow so that I can start driving it again. I just want to make sure that this isn't something that needs to be fixed first.

This is on a Manual 99 P11.

Thank you!!

Vacuum leak?

DON'T rev it or drive it. Change the oil now get some new gas, highest octane you can, at least a few gallons worth. 1 year old gasoline is pushing it. Be careful when you open up the cap, do it slow.. and after a year the oil will have mostly collected in the lower pan more than usual which means there wasn't much up top at start up so that could have been start up clatter. Anyways, I'd do that then start up and let it idle, try to figure out where that sound is coming from etc. If you cant take a video I'm sure someone here has heard it

Check all of your fluid levels too, it could be low on Power Steering fluid that is causing the noise. Also check the belts.

yes that too. especially if the whistling was more like a squeaking sound

I just test drove it around the block since I wanted to make sure the transmission that I had installed and axle I installed yesterday were fine. What could happen if I continue to drive it? My mechanic checked the oil level and poured some more in before turning it on.

The sound was a whistling...the PS pump needs to be replaced, but it never made this sound before. Could this be something that happened after sitting there?

Thank you!!

Is the sound on-going? Does it change with steering input?

did you check for birds with whistles? that happened to speedo a few times.

The sound is only when I am parked. There is no sound when I am revving it in neutral or driving. I know I need a PS pump, but not sure if that would cause it to whistle. I'll try to take a video of it this weekend.

Any system that is ingesting air can cause a whistle. Video would be more useful I suppose. I hope we can help ya.