I went to autozone today and got my alternator checked out. More on why I got it checked out later. My battery is seeing only about 13.4-13.7 volts when the car is started. The guy informed that I might want to get my alternator checked out. This was something I kinda expected. What could cause this?

The background: I hooked up a little system in my ES. Nothing big. Just a little 4x50 Watt amp. While hooking up the system, I noticed a little whining sound. My instant thought was that I didn't ground the amp properly but that didn't seem like the case. After a lot of troubleshooting, I noticed that there was always a whine from the car even when the amp wasn't hooked up. It was more pronounced with the amp, of course, but still there without the amp hooked up nonetheless. I got in my wife's ES and zero noise. I'm happy her car is quiet and trouble-free (*knock on wood*) but I want mine to be that way too. I'm hoping that figuring out the issue with the alternator will also end my noise issue. There are no dimming lights so I don't suspect it is anything serious.

 

How is the condition of the Battery?
Any corrosion build-up around the battery cable ends?

 

No...the battery looks and works fine.

 

start your car, take off the negative plug on the battery, if your car shut down, your alternator is goneee.

whining sound is due to electrical interference, the whinning get louder and faster as u drive because the alternator.


check your grounds,

correct me if i'm wrong anyone *=o

 

I do NOT suggest or recommend removing a battery cable while an engine is running!

With today's computer controlled cars, this can do more damage than just frying the alternator and/or battery.

Yes, in the past (pre ECM/ECU days) that was one way to test the alternator or generator.

Take the alternator to some place that can test it with a 'Load' test to determine if it has gone bad, or not.

Some 'whining' is commonplace, depending on the manufacturer.
My son has a Celica GT that has had alternator 'whine' from Day 1.
IF, however, you are getting this noise through the stereo system, then, there are filters that you can put in the circuit(s) to eliminate the 'whine'.

 

Thanks, I'll definitely get it tested and report back. The noise does not seem to be coming from the stereo system. I put my ear to the door speaker and the tweeter to check and I didn't hear anything.

 

Mine whines as well. It has for about 25k and no problems. It only does it sometimes and seems to be temperature and load sensitive. The alt. checked out fine so i'm guessing it could just be the bearing is on the way out.