Engine Whine

[bimmerR75]

Hi All,

Seen a few posts on this but they are from a few years back and with no real solid answers. Just bought my first E30 last week, all belts are brand new, but for some reason the engine makes a whine when it accelerates (the pitch gets higher as the rpms go up). Is this normal, or is it a sign of some type of issue? It does not make a noise during start up or idle and or at rpms past around 4,500, but it will make that noise at every gear.

The noise is somewhat comparable to when you are in the new york taxi cab and those cars make a whining noise as they accelerate. Any ideas on what this issue is?

I read that it may just be a need to flush the power steering, but I am unsure if that would help in this situation.

[Kershaw]

Does it go away if you turn off your stereo?

[RedTeam]

In my experience, power steering whine usually happens when you're turning, especially at slow speeds, not really when you're accelerating. It won't hurt to quickly top it off and make sure though.

[bimmerR75]

Does it go away if you turn off your stereo?

It does not, it sounds like its coming from something towards the back wheels, but havent been able to pin point.

[Kershaw]

Probably diff whine then. Over 200k miles? Is it speed dependent or gear dependent?

[bimmerR75]

So after doing some research I realized the whine only happens when the car is in gear and rolling up until around 3k rpms. I'm thinking it's the differential but have no idea if the guy I bought it from changed the oil back there. Has anyone had any experience with a noise such as this stopping just from a flush? The mechanic I bought it from said he did a transmission maitinence on it prior to placing it for sale, in addition to changing the bearings, so I'm assuming it's no the tranny or the wheel bearings. There's also a possibility I'm just being over cautious and it's a standard sound the car makes when accelerating.

For some clarification it's a 1991 335i 5-speed