2003 1.7el whining noise
 

my gf has a 2003 acura 1.7el. the engine makes a whining noise that gets louder as you accelerate and seems to go away when the engine is warmed up.

it doesnt sound like a belt. but today when she started her car after work there was smoke coming from underneath the hood. she let it idle and the smoke went away. when she got home i lifted the hood and i could hear a faint clicking noise, i could also smell something like rubber or electrical burning. it definately wasnt cooling burning.

the cars temperature is normal.

any info or ideas would be great. by the way the car only has 80,000km on it

i would check your belts to be safe. the whining noise i had from my car was an alternator belt that had to be changed. got worse when it was wet. if not, just bring it to a mechanic and they should find the problem easily.

thanks man. im just worried about her driving it. i think she's gonna be driving my integra for now. just dont have the time to get it into the shop, and broke my foot the other day so im useless

Had something similar with my 1.6EL. It would be okay on nice days, but on cold/wet days it would whine like crazy. Had the belts changed and it went away.

I don't know if the 1.7's are similar but the 1.6 had a tensioner for the AC belt that tends to whine like you describe. It may need to be adjusted (which will also tighten up the loose belt if that was why it was smokey under the hood). The clicking is probably from the ac compressor (normal if it was on or in defrost/defog mode).

i would say take it to a mech