whining sound

my wifes 2000 chrysler town and country has started making a very noticible whining sound that changes pitches with the speed of the engine. If it is ideling its just kind of a low pitched whine, but press down on the gas and the whine goes up in pitch. Also it smelled and felt like the engine was hotter than normal. The whine sounds like it is coming from the alternator area. Also i don't know how hot the alternator is suppose to get, but if the engine is cold and you crank it up and let it run about 1 minute the alternator is hot enough you cannot touch it. The coolant and radiator fan are all ok ...thanks for help

 

Well, I'm not sure how fast an alternator would get ouch-hot, but only a minute seems pretty fast. Adding in the whine would tend to maybe point toward the alternator going. Two things I would do:

1. Release tension on the serpentine belt and get it off the alternator pulley. Now spin the alternator; it should spin fairly freely with very little resistance or noise.

2. Also wiggle the tensioner and idler pulleys to check for slop and give them a spin. They should not have very much free play in them or make noises when spun.

There are some other possibilities, but those are the ones I would start with.

 

well i took the 2000 t&c down to advance auto parts this morning and the guy ran some test on the alternator and found that it had a bad diode. So i'm in the process of taking it out of the car. I've got the alternator completely loose but i can't figure out how to get the vertical mounting bracket out of the way. I removed all the bolts from the top and its loose but it seems that the belt tensioner is somehow mounted thru the bottom of the mounting plate. So i'm not sure if i am suppose to remove all that or not. and i would have to access it from the bottom the best i can tell. I removed the windshield wiper shroud but still not quite enough room with that mounting bracket in the way. Hope someone here has removed one off this model ...thanks again

 

If the alternator is loose and will rock back and forth then you obviously have all the boltsout. On that bottom bolt there is a spacer that slides into the ear on the alternator. You will need to rock the alternator pretty far to disengage the spacer. It can be a bit of a bear, but once you get the spacer pushed back far enough in the ear the alternator will come out. Just remember to push that spacer back in the new one before you try to put it in. The easiest way to push that spacer back is to take the long bolt and thread it into the spacer and tap it with a hammer until is is flush with the ear. If it doesnt have threads then run a nut down on the long bolt and tap it back that way. Once you get it in and install the bolts the spaces will be pulled back into place when you tighten the bolts.
Hope this helps ya,
Billy