I've got a couple of strange noises I'm hoping you guys might be able to help me with. At idle, there is whistling / whine type of noise that can be heard most clearly at about the middle of the truck. I'm thinking maybe exhaust leak as it has that whistling of air sound to it. I just had the muffler replaced and they didn't mention anything ... then again the bad muffler may have hidden this sound. From the engine compartment you can barely hear it. Standing by either front door it is clear, but it seems a bit louder on the driver's side.

There is also a squeak going on that sounds a bit like the drive belt. But it is also heard more clearly from under or beside the car, can't hear it all from the engine compartment. But I guess that could mean it's a pulley down lower?

 

whinning noise may be fuel pump you are hearing squeak probably belt if you havent replace belt replace it with a goodyear gatorback costs more but i think its worth it

 

is it a 4wd ?
what year ?
the whistling noise could be a vacuum line disconnected from the tranfer case .
the sqeak could be a bad power steering pump.

just a guess from your description .

 

Great suggestions. It is in fact 4wd and the 4WD is not working at the moment. Was going to dig into that next. The truck is a 1997 with push button 4-wheel drive. I was thinking relay becaus when I push the button, there is a click in the dash as if it is changing but I don't hear anything from where the relay is supposed to be (passenger side). In any case it sounds like diggining to the the 4WD issue might make sense in case it is vacuum.

On the power steering pump, how would I go about diagnosing that? From what I can tell it is not leaking.

I'm going to do the drive belt anyway. It looks good but I just got this truck and it has 165K on it so I don't know when it was last done. In fact, I plan on going through and doing all scheduled maintenance over the next little while. Change all the fluids, plugs and wires, cap and rotor, etc.

 

change the belt and while you are at it check your power steering fluid level ....if its low it will make a whining noise usually more noticable when you are turning at slow speeds .
and yes your 4wd is actuated by vacuum. on the top of the transfer case is a vacuum switch with three lines going to it .

 

keep an open ear sometime for a ford they have horrible power steer pumps and you can hear them coming they have a whirring sound that is constant. almost like cranking your wheel as far as it will go your steer pump will make a noise