Are you sitting there wondering – “why is my car making a whining noise when decelerating?” You’re not alone. It’s a common problem, and there are many possible causes of the noise.
Understanding what causes the noise can help you diagnose and fix the problem right away rather than have to go through all kinds of expensive tests at the dealership or mechanic who may or may not know what they’re looking at.
1. The Tires
Constant whining noise when you decelerate could be caused by the tires. The first thing you’d need to check is your tire pressure. If your tires are low on air or have too much air, this can cause a whining sound.
The next thing you should check is the tread depth and wear pattern of your tires, as well as their balance and alignment.
If the wheels are out of balance or there’s excessive toe-in or toe-out in your alignment specs (which causes uneven wear), these factors may also contribute to this problem.
2. The Driveshaft
One of the reasons why your car makes a whirring noise when slowing down could be the drive shaft boots. If they’re torn or cracked, they need to be replaced.
This can be pretty easy to spot as you’d most likely also hear a driveshaft noise when decelerating.
Check the drive shaft joints. If they’re loose or worn, replace them. If you have an inspection mirror and can’t see any binding or looseness in the joint, check for excessive play using a feeler gauge between the two halves of the joint and replace it if there is more than 0.005 inch (0.13mm) of play when fully loosened.
Check your U-joints for signs of wear by removing one boot at a time and rotating it back and forth while examining it from different angles in both directions of rotation. If this is the case, you can hear this whining noise when accelerating and decelerating.
You should also listen for any unusual whining noise while driving. This may indicate damage to internal components that cannot be seen without disassembly and inspection with special tools.
3. The Transmission Fluid
The proper level for most transmissions is between the MIN and MAX lines on the dipstick. If you see that it’s too low, add some fluid until it reaches the appropriate level.
A low transmission fluid level would result in transmission noise when decelerating. Check the transmission fluid condition — this means checking its look and smell, as well as making sure that it hasn’t turned black or brownish (these colors indicate either a leaking seal or contamination).
The color should be clear to pale yellow; if it’s pinkish-orange or reddish-brown in color (or if there are suspended particles in the solution), then you should take your car to a professional auto mechanic.
Your transmission could be overheating due to internal damage from a lack of lubrication caused by low fluid levels.
4. Bad Fuel Pump
If you are experiencing a whining noise while decelerating, and it’s only when you are decelerating that the noise occurs, it could be caused by your fuel pump.
A bad or faulty fuel pump can cause low fuel pressure and result in a whining sound when the vehicle is slowing down due to a lack of adequate pressure.
If you’re hearing this sound when you are traveling at high speeds or making quick stops, then it is likely that the problem lies somewhere else in your car’s engine or driveline components.
5. Not Enough Power
Check your fuel filter. If this is dirty or clogged, it can cause issues with low power and poor acceleration. And this would result in a whining or humming noise when decelerating.
The next thing to check would be your fuel pump. If it’s not working correctly, it can cause issues as well. Lastly, check the injectors to see if they are producing enough pressure to allow proper combustion within the cylinders of your engine.
It’s also important to make sure that none of these components have been damaged by overheating – the spark plugs, in particular, may be damaged by excessive heat while idling or driving on flat roads at high speeds.
6. Noise From The Water Pump
If you hear a whining noise coming from the front of your vehicle when it decelerates, the water pump may be the reason.
The water pump is part of an engine cooling system, and it’s responsible for circulating coolant throughout the engine.
If you notice a hot smell coming from your car while driving or after you’ve parked it, this could mean that something is wrong with your cooling system.
How to Fix Whining Noise When Decelerating
1. Replace The Tires If They’re Bad
If your tires are showing signs of being worn out, you’ll need to change them. ensure that whatever new tire you’re replacing with has your vehicle’s recommended tire size.
Also, be mindful of the tire’s expiry date. It’s easy to overlook a tire’s expiry date when you think the tires still look great. Using tires with manufactured dates of over 4 years can be dangerous. keep that in mind.
Read: Car Gurgling Sound When Idling
2. Replace The Transmission Fluid If It’s Bad
If you are going to change the transmission fluid, it is important that you have a drain pan. The drain pan needs to be big enough to catch all of the dirty transmission fluid as it drains out of your car.
Another thing that is important is using a new filter on top of your transmission. This will keep any dirt and grime from getting into the new supply of transmission fluid in your car.
If you are changing the transmission fluid yourself, make sure that you follow all instructions exactly how they were written in your owner’s manual or another guidebook for changing fluids in cars and trucks like yours.
3. Replace a Bad Fuel Pump
If you have determined that the whining noise is coming from your fuel pump, you should replace it. You can purchase an original fuel pump from your local auto parts store and do it yourself.
Exchange the old one with a new one and test out your car to see if that fixed the problem.
4. Clean the Spark Plugs
If the whining noise goes away after cleaning the spark plugs, you know that it’s probably a spark plug issue. Spark plugs can get clogged or dirty, which can cause them to wear out faster than they should.
To clean these parts, you’ll want to remove the spark plug and then thoroughly clean it with compressed air or in a container of water with dish soap.
You may also want to replace the old spark plugs with new ones if replacing them solves your problem as well.
If cleaning doesn’t solve your problem, then there might be something wrong with your fuel injection pipe instead of your engine itself.
In other words, if removing the spark plug didn’t fix anything (or if replacing it didn’t solve anything), then this means there’s probably something wrong within these pipes themselves.
This could include cracks caused by heat expansion from driving around on hot days; poor manufacturing quality; corrosion caused by driving over salty roads; etc. This means that you might need to do a deeper check to actually know what is happening.
5. Replace the Water Pump If It’s Bad
If the whine is from the water pump, you’ll have to replace it.
The first step is to remove the timing belt. This will allow you access to the water pump. Once this is done, remove the bolts that hold in place your old and worn-out water pump. You should then be able to carefully remove your old unit and install a new one into place.
The last thing you need to do is reattach your timing belt and test drive your car for a while before determining if that solved all of your problems or not.
Read: Drivetrain Malfunction BMW
Conclusion
If you are experiencing a whining noise when decelerating, it may be an indication of serious issues like not enough power, noise from the water pump, a bad fuel pump, the transmission fluid, the vehicle’s drive shaft, or the tires.
If this happens to you, the most important thing is to get the problem checked out as soon as possible and replace the faulty part making the whining noise.
However, if this is something you can’t do on your own then you can get your car checked by a qualified mechanic