Engine question

[DetroitNut90]

This may potentially be a silly question, but what is the name of the highlighted part of my engine? Because whatever it is, oil is leaking out of it where it attatches to the block.

Also, would anyone know what would cause an alternator to make a loud screechy-whirring noise when the engine first starts up? Mine makes a terrible noise, but after the engine's been running for a little while, it quiets down a bit. Dad squirted some WD-40 into it, which also helped quiet the noise, but he thinks I may be due for a replacement.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

[91z4me]

The big black thing would be the intake manifold or at least the upper part of it. The squealing I have been told may be a bad pull or belt but I don't know, maybe a tensioner.

Not a mechanic but that should point you in the right directions.

[loki]

could be a bearing in the alternator.... if it goes out, could freeze the pulley and .... quickly no more belt running it's course. it'd be most likely...

what engine is this anyway? 3.8L? or 3.5L?

[DetroitNut90]

could be a bearing in the alternator.... if it goes out, could freeze the pulley and .... quickly no more belt running it's course. it'd be most likely...

what engine is this anyway? 3.8L? or 3.5L?

It's the 3800 Series II.

That's the intake manifold. I've done a million gakets on those, they aren't that difficult or expensive to replace.

The alternator whining is probably the bearings going out. An auto-electrical place should be able to rebuild it fairly cheaply.

Any idear how much it would cost to replace (the gasket)? My dad would be able to take care of the labor part of the equation, but he's already been generous enough to absorb the cost of the new hub assembly, tie rod, rear brake pads, an oil filter, inspection fee, and an air filter. I'm worried that the part may be out of my budgetary means if I'm made to buy it.

Edited December 15, 2007 by DetroitNut90

[76ChevyTrucker]

Upper Intake Manifold Gasket aka Plenum Gasket at Car Quest (since I work there and I might as well use my abilities to get you the parts, or at least the prices from there should be about $40 bucks. Time to replace, about 3-4 hours depending on your mechanical abilities. As far as the squeal, here's a really simple way to check what it may be. Get a long screwdriver, or some other type device to use as a stethescope (sp?), from there crank the vehicle and slowly and methodically place said long screwdriver, or other device on every reachable thing that the belt runs along, if you can hear the screech through that particular part, then there is your bad cookie. And what I mean by placing it on the part, if its the alternator, of course you can't put it on the pulley while its spinning, but you can put the screwdriver on the alternator itself near the front and rear pulleys and listen through that device for the squealing or screeching sound. That's how I found the tensioner pulley bearing failing on my Impala before it completely gave up the ghost and put me on the side of the road. By the way, when it comes to questions like this, never fear, you can always pm me, I'm pretty much one of the regulars when it comes to the tech-side of cars and such, since I'm not only a parts guy, I'm also a mechanic too.

[DetroitNut90]

We have an AmPro T70063 mechanic's stethoscope, I assume that would work fine as well?

And if I'm understanding correctly, I'd place the stethoscopic device on the different reachable parts of the engine that are driven by the belt while it's running and listen in?

I may just take you up on that offer, 76CT. Most auto mechanicals puzzle me almost as much as precalculus.

Edited December 15, 2007 by DetroitNut90

[76ChevyTrucker]

That would be correct sir.

[DetroitNut90]

So today, I'm tooling around in my Intrigue, and I notice the SES light illuminated on the IP. After I park the car and dad got home from work, I hooked it up to our OBD II reader to see if it would return any codes. I got a "P0171 - System too lean (Bank 1)" message. Dad said it's probably because there's a build-up of stuff on my fuel injectors, and handed me a bottle of Pennzoil fuel injector cleaner.

But as I'm looking the code up here, it says that my mass airflow sensor could be dirty or faulty. Like I know what or where that is. I asked dad if he knew what that was, and he thinks it's somehow related to the big hose that runs from the air filter box into my intake manifold. So, can I ask:

1) what does this MAF sensor do, where is it located, and is it easy to reach?

and

2) could cleaning my fuel injectors help make this go away?

(if yes to #2, then here's a part a: the fuel injector cleaner says to add it in when the gas tank is almost empty, then fill the tank up and let it run almost empty again. Would running the car lean for about 2 tanks of gas do any damage to the engine?)

Thanks again.

[loki]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_flow_sensor

it's between the air filter box and the intake manifold.

[76ChevyTrucker]

The Mass Air Flow meter is located on the throttle body on the 3.8L engine, it could be dirty. The MAF works by heating a wire element on the MAF and measures how much air is coming into the engine by how much power is used to keep the wire hot. There could be a film of gunk on the wire although cleaning it is kinda hard since the wire element is really thin and fragile. The system running too lean could also be a problem with an oxygen sensor too. As far as easy to reach, sure its easy to reach and only held in with two Torx-type screws (kinda like the Idle Air Control Valve, and the Throttle Position Sensor). As far as the fuel system cleaner is concerned. The reason you run the tank to empty and then dump in the cleaner in is because they want to mix the cleaner with clean, new fuel. You could probably easily just add it to what you have and run with what you've got.

Now as far as it comes to running the engine lean for a couple of tanks of fuel, you probably won't hurt anything at all. You'll probably notice poorer fuel mileage and not as much engine power since the engine is going to be essentially starving for fuel on that one bank.