Concorde whistling noise

I have a 2002 Chrysler Concorde Lxi 3.5L V6. When the car is running,
I can hear a constant whistling noise. It sounds like its coming from
under the steering wheel.

The whistle just loud enough to be irritating and high enough pitched
that my father-in-law can't hear it, I can barely hear it, but my wife
can hear it extremely well.

Occasionally, there is also a ticking noise I can hear too. The
ticking doesn't hapen all the time or last very long (maybe about 5
mintues). When it does, it's about 2 ticks per second.

Outside the car, with the hood open, I can't hear the whistle or
clicks over the engine noise.

The whistle noise does change in pitch occasionally, but I can't pin
it down to changing during accelleration or braking. It's just random.
It doesn't seem to matter if the car is warmed-up or cold.

The "check engine" light is not on.

If anybody has a suggestion as to what this could be, let me know.

Thanks,
Paul

 

The only thing I can think of on the whistling is the brake booster, but
usually that is clearly linked to usage of the booster - pitch and
volume of the whistling changes when the brakes are used.

If it does it with the engine idling and the car sitting still,
disconnect the vacuum hose from the booster and close the end of the
hose off (duct tape or a plug) - then go back to the driver's seat and
see if the noise is gone. Repeat a few times to convince yourself that
you can consistently turn the noise on and off like that. If so,
replace the booster. Good rebuilts are at the auto parts chains for
around $80 (same exact rebuilder as NAPA, but NAPA gets over $100 for
the same part).

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with the letter 'x')

 

Good plan. I'll give it a shot tonight.
Thanks for your help.

 

I fixed it last night! I'm a knucklehead, so you may find the solution
amusing:
As it turns out, when I took the front-end apart to do it's 100K mi
replacing the timing belt, water pump, serpentine belts, etc... I did
not put the hood release cable back in the car very well. It had come
loose and was rubbing up against the serpentine belt. The belt had
scraped off the plastic and was making a whistling noise as it rubbed
up against the metal wire in the cable.
I moved the cable back out of the way and secured it, so the noise
went away!

-Paul