irex511

Hi Folks,

I have a weird squeal noise coming from the engine bay of my 2010 Z06 (LPE car) and wanted to see if anyone had any ideas before I start diagnosis.

Sounds to me like a belt may be loose. I've posted this video on Youtube with the car revving between 1k-1.5k RPM.

Also, I've noticed the squeal under medium power (i.e. merging onto the highway).

Any thoughts? Planning on doing the Dover Super Shootout this weekend, and don't want to risk any damage to important bits before I find the root cause.

Thanks a million for the help.

Cheers,

Mike

H82BFST

Couldn't tell by the video as it sounded a little on an off, but when I did hear it, it sounded like what my 06 seems to have developed. I haven't looked into it much yet, but mine sounds like the alternator.

Anyone have any good alternator suggestions that are lighter weight yet functional in a Z?

bearphoto

Likely scenarios: If you have driven the car in the rain recently, belts have a tendency to squeak.

You can replace the belt with one of the gatorback belts, they dont squeak.

You dont say how many miles are on your car but there is a possibility that your harmonic balancer is working its way off the crank. This is a fairly common problem since the C5's and gm has not come up with a remedy (although there is rumor they are working on it).

The balancer issue is a difficult job and should be done by a competent dealer. As for the alternator, while they can go bad, seems to be pretty rare that i've seen.

irex511

Thanks for the quick replies on this. The car has ~11k miles on it. I'll have to admit, the rain is probably a likely solution. I run a GT hood (lots of louvres) and got caught in the rain the other day (I know, I know).

I took another video on the way to work this morning, and you can hear the whine on accelleration (faintly).

At any rate, unless it's a terrible idea, I'm going to hope that's it and continue running the car. Any good ways to check the harmonic balancer? Guessing it's not under Chevy warranty with 630 hp

JetBlue427

probably the Alternator...had mine start whining at 10K miles...it got so bad people thought i was running a pro-charger when i pulled into carshows.

b4i4getit

The LS7 has a pressed on harmonic balancer. It is possible your balancer is ready to come off.

bearphoto

If you modded the engine to 630 hp, no warranty for you. As for checking for the balancer wobble, you will have to look very carefully at the balancer for any wobble.

In the meantime, get yourself a gatorback belt. I forget but want to say autozone carries them? anyone know for sure on that? See what happens once you have replaced the stock belt.

someone else had the same problem and they unplugged their alternator while the car was running and the noise went away. He believed his problem was his alternator but i dont know for sure.

keep us posted.

whatcop?

Gatorback belts suck

VetteNinja69

I have a very similar sound to this. Did you ever figure out what it was?

Dean Pasquale

I agree. My 2000 with 14K started to whine a couple years ago. It sounded like a supercharger. After denying there was anything wrong, I traced it to the alternator. The belts didn't respond to dielectric grease, so it had to be the alternator. Replaced it along with the two belts and the accessory tensioner. Even my wife said it was quieter.