Mechanical Wining Noise
I’m not very car savvy. My car had made some sounds that sounded like a rusty shock almost, especially when turning. Then today after pulling it into a parking spot and turning it off, it continued to make sound. The sound was like a mechanical wining (fairly loud considering the engine being off) and it slowly dropped in pitch until stopping.
Burning Smell
Towards the end of the decline in pitch a white smoke began to come out of the hood, and a burning smell (not that dissimilar to the smell of rubber became very strong and still exists within the car. The car’s battery seems to be absolutely fine but the car doesn’t respond at all when I try to start it. The oil gauge is also a little low, but I THINK I know how to check the oil and I THINK it was at a decent volume.
I have no idea, and would just love any input as to what the hell just happened. THANK YOU!
Tough to diagnose a noise without hearing it but I’ll do my best.
My first thought is a pulley locked up and caused the serpentine belt to break. I would look to see if the belt is missing or burnt in a particular spot. Possibly the bearings went out of a idler pulley or tensioner pulley.(bearing failure is quite whinny) Or the alternator locked up. All of which are rotated with the serpentine belt. If a pulley locked up it would cause the belt to burn (emit smoke as well) as it is being pulled over it. The belt also rotates the alternator which charges the battery. So if this was the issue the alternator wouldn’t be able to perform properly and would leave you with a weak battery.
The lights and radio may come on but the engine does nothing when you try to start it. This is normal for a weak battery. The radio requires as little as 5 amps to operate, the headlights up to 30 amps and the starter requires 250 amps. Big difference there.
You’ll probably need to have the battery fully charged(or replaced if older than 4 years) and the belt replaced. This is along with whatever part failed whether its a pulley, tensioner or alternator.