Vectra Gearbox or Alternator Whine ?

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Bowness72

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Hi.... A few days ago I noticed that my 2006 Vectra C had developed a high pitched whine (sounds a bit like a car reversing fast or a milk float). My first thoughts were that it was the gearbox but following some online searches the alternator kept cropping up as a possible culprit.
Strangely, the noise only happens when accelerating and seems to be most noticeable between 1000 rpm to 2000 rpm. It's slightly noticeable in 1st and 4th gears but loudest in 2nd and 3rd gear.
If I press the clutch pedal it stops (which is why I first thought gearbox) but I've noticed that it also stops if I take my foot off the accelerator.
If I am going downhill with the car in gear, doing the same engine revs (say 1500 rpm), same speed etc. wouldn't the gearbox still be turning the same as if I were accelerating on a level road ? and so should make the same noise if it was a gearbox issue. But the noise stops in this situation.

Can anyone confirm my thoughts or correct me ?

Thanks
 
The best thing to do is to remove the alternator drive belt and try again.....
If the noise is still there , have the wheel bearings checked before diving in further as problems with these are a lot more common than gearboxes.
John :)
 
HI Could try before removing drive belt is to load the alternator by putting lights on full beam and H R W and see if noise changes .
But you do say that when clutch is pressed noise goes away ,could be gearbox / finally drive . Reason for not making a noise when going down hill is you are not putting any load through the transmission.

I would think w/bearing noise would be more pronounced cornering as you load and unload a bearing.

But fingers crossed its a alternator (a lot cheaper)
 
Thanks for the replies. I didn't get round to trying any of the suggestions but the noise has now got an additional grating in every gear so pretty sure it is the gearbox (possibly bearings). I was due to replace the car soon anyway so I've decided it will just go for scrap for a few quid.

Cheers
 
Motman said:
If it’s the same where you live as it is around here, you’ll be the one paying for the car to be scrapped!
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I've looked online and there seem to be several companies that will give me £150 for it including coming to pick it up, and if I drive it to them it seems I could get up to about £190
 
Result. Was talking to a mate last week and he couldn’t get anyone round to take a scrapper from his garage for free!
 
Motman said:
Result. Was talking to a mate last week and he couldn’t get anyone round to take a scrapper from his garage for free!
Click to expand...

The quotes I've had do vary a lot by area even through the same website... I got £22 offer for an area much further away and £192 from not far away from me, with various differing rates in between. The only condition of the offer seems to be that's it's a complete car including all wheels and tyres. I guess they just break them down to remove parts where they can and the rest gets scrapped.
 
Just make sure it’s a licensed carrier that takes it and you get a proper receipt plus get pictures of the reg number of the truck that tows it away otherwise you may be getting speeding and parking tickets galore!
 
CarsBoatsandVans said:
Does sound expensive.

But would have been worth taking the alert anorexia belt off 1st for a test
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What’s an 'alert anorexia' belt? Anyway, congrats on posting something other than political posts. Not bad out of the 70 odd posts you’ve made since joining. Just wondering if you'd ever thought of joining a political forum and posting 70 odd DIY questions? :rolleyes:
 
Motman said:
Just make sure it’s a licensed carrier that takes it and you get a proper receipt plus get pictures of the reg number of the truck that tows it away otherwise you may be getting speeding and parking tickets galore!
Click to expand...

This is the website I've looked at...

https://www.motorwise.com/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI8ujEmO7s5gIVRLDtCh2T6A9BEAAYASAAEgJmpvD_BwE

Looks legit to me but thanks for the cautionary advice.

Edit: Car gave up this afternoon resulting in AA towing it home. Apparently the diff ended up putting a hole in the gearbox.
 
Last edited:
I’ve seen a few of them with holes in the gearbox so I should imagine it’s a common fault.
 
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