Odd High-Pitched Whine

[Aardvaark]

I can't stand the suspense. I'd go buy some gasket material, a cheap gasket punch set or sharp pair of scissors and make the base gasket.
But then I try to make every gasket I can.

Btw. "Dressing the intake" means making sure the flange on the intake manifold is clean of gasket material and flat. You may have to carefully dress it with a flat fine bastard file checking it with a flat edge metal ruler or piece of metal for truness. Go slow and don't over do it.
You probably won't neesd to dress it, but just in case it's in bad shape....

On the stock Solex, the base of the carb is sometimes rather warped and ickky and can benifit
from being dressed in the same manner.

[hrcollinsjr]

Originally Posted by MICAH1 Guys, I think we just might be getting ahead of ourselves with this run-a-way train of burnt valves/pistons. MarkandSon makes more logical sense about the air leaning out the mixture from the carb to the cylinders. But that does not fit this problem..... remember that Jay very recently got his title, and temp tags, so he has not had the opportunity to run his beast under serious load around town/highway. The leak as we hear it now only came to light last week!! My bet is on the thick gasket between the carb base, and heat shield.

A Man of reason here among us.

My suggestion to listen for increased noise with the oil cap off was basically an easy way to eliminate it being an internal thing. The flex plate bolts rubbing has a "tinny" sound to it and the timing chain slap is pretty evident what it is when it occurs. My first guess would have been belt misalignment but Jay already had that one eliminated!

Burnt valves, I would think, require driving quite a bit with an extremely lean engine or a few hot laps around the track with a vacuum port open. Anyone ever look through a spark plug hole and see the wrist pen through the top of the melted piston? It can happen to an Iron Duke!

Harold

[tomking]

I am waiting to hear about the vacuum leak he finds!

[Aardvaark]

Originally Posted by tomking I am waiting to hear about the vacuum leak he finds!

Me too. The whining sounds just like you the time I accidently ate your dinner salad
in Charlotte.

[tomking]

Originally Posted by Aardvaark Me too. The whining sounds just like you the time I accidently ate your dinner salad in Charlotte.

LOL You gotta be kidding! My voice is much lower than a whine!

[broszzy]

Me too. The whining sounds just like you the time I accidently ate your dinner salad
in Charlotte.


Key word here is accidently That is to funny. I'm glade I didn't accidently leave my salad by you in Springfield

[Aardvaark]

Originally Posted by broszzy Me too. The whining sounds just like you the time I accidently ate your dinner salad in Charlotte. Key word here is accidently That is to funny. I'm glade I didn't accidently leave my salad by you in Springfield

Backstory:
Tom was sitting across from me at the table and when the server
brought the salads and bread, but his salad was set in front of me by mistake.
I just ate it not realizing it wasn't part of what I ordered.
By the time I finished it, Tom was wondering why his salad hadn't been delivered yet since the main courses were arriving. We soon put it together.
Hee, hee. Tom being a nice fellow didn't press the issue with the server and I promised to make it up to him. But so far he has been a no show at the same Opel events I've attended. But the offer still stands....

[tomking]

I'll bee back!

[Aardvaark]

Originally Posted by tomking I'll bee back!

Im even going to buy you a chefs salad as an upgrade to make up for these months of suffering you've gone through.

[hrcollinsjr]

Originally Posted by Aardvaark Im even going to buy you a chefs salad as an upgrade to make up for these months of suffering you've gone through.

I'm just glad there was no loss of limb (fingers) from him trying to get it back.

Harold

[Aardvaark]

Originally Posted by hrcollinsjr I'm just glad there was no loss of limb (fingers) from him trying to get it back. Harold

Ha, ha! Nah. Tom's pretty well mannered in public.

[tomking]

Oh boy! I am drooling over the thought of a chef salad.

[Redskinsjbs]

I got the two carb gaskets today from OGTS (yes, I was lazy and had them mail me the thin gasket). Now, BEFORE I put them on I would just like to make sure that I do this correctly.

I will remove the carb from the heat shield and the shield from the intake manifold. I will then check how flat or level the surfaces of the carb and intake manifold are. Do I need to ensure that the heat sheild is level or will it level out by itself when I torque the carb back down?

I will plane the heat shield or carb if necessary.

I will then tighten any loose bolts on the intake and exhaust manifold while the carb is not in the way.

I will place the thin gasket on the intake manifold, the heat sheild on top of that, the thick gasket on top of that and the carb on top of that. I will then replace the old nuts with nylon stop nuts and torque down the whole assembly. What torque is enough? Im not exactly looking for a number, just sort of a guideline: ie firm, tight, break my hand etc.

Did I miss anything?

I am off to work, so I will read this later tonight and tell you all tomorrow how it works out!

Thanks again,

Jay

And I know that a whine was heard because a salad was or was not eaten, but comon, that had to be WAYYYY more intrusive than my car's current whistle.

[GRS72GT]

You've got everything right as far as I can tell; gasket order, etc...

As for the torque, the FSM doesn't specify. It indicates, "Make certain that all nuts and screws are securely tightened."

I generally tighten it down until you can see the thick gasket compress equally all around, that way you know it is doing it's job It's usually pretty tight by the time you get the nuts all the way down the studs. Don't overdo it though!

[Aardvaark]

Did the whine get resolved? Inquiring minds want to know.

[Redskinsjbs]

So I installed the new carb gaskets last Thursday and they only partly fixed my problem. As it turns out, I also have a vacuum leak in the intake manifold gasket between it and the engine. BUT, part of the whistle did go away! So I will get a new manifold gasket and install that.

[Aardvaark]

Good that you've found the problem for sure and have a handle on it.

[yellaopelgt]

You'll be surprised how much better it runs with all the vacum leaks taken care of!!! Might want to give the carb and timing a tweak after you get the new gasket on......
joe

[GoinManta]

Wish I had been on and saw this a while ago.. I could have saved you all some time and told you it was the intake manifold gasket to the head.. Just replaced the one on my sons Manta.. it was doing exactly the same thing.. was "Slightly" loose so if you lifted on the intake it would vary the pitch of the whine/whistle.. never heard a vacuum leak make this whine sound before his did it either.

Speaking of which I need to put his back together.. I "borrowed" parts off his car to get my Kadett to Charlotte and he will be back from Mo and need his Manta in a few weeks..

Charles

[Jeepsbeme]

Just out of curiosity, how difficult does it tend to be to remove the manifold attachment bolts on a 35+ year old Opel? I'm assuming most of them will be stubborn as heck and the ol' flame wrench will be needed to help break them free without actually breaking them in half!

I'm planning on replacing the gaskets in my GT as a pre-emptive measure and would appreciate having some advance notice of what to expect.

[tomking]

Very few are ever that hard to remove.

[BQS4]

Originally Posted by Jeepsbeme Just out of curiosity, how difficult does it tend to be to remove the manifold attachment bolts on a 35+ year old Opel? I'm assuming most of them will be stubborn as heck and the ol' flame wrench will be needed to help break them free without actually breaking them in half! I'm planning on replacing the gaskets in my GT as a pre-emptive measure and would appreciate having some advance notice of what to expect.

Are you referring to the bolts that attach the exahust manifold to the head? Or are you referring to the ones that connect the intake and exhaust manifolds together?

[tomking]

Originally Posted by BQS4 Are you referring to the bolts that attach the exahust manifold to the head? Or are you referring to the ones that connect the intake and exhaust manifolds together?

Well Gene I am sure you know that I was referring to the bolts that attach the manifold to the head. The downpipe to the manifold bolts are ALWAYS hard to remove as are the intake to exhaust manifold bolts.

[BQS4]

Originally Posted by tomking Well Gene I am sure you know that I was referring to the bolts that attach the manifold to the head. The downpipe to the manifold bolts are ALWAYS hard to remove as are the intake to exhaust manifold bolts.

Tom;
That's cool, I was wanting a responce from Brian as to which set of bolts he was referring to. I have never had any problems with the 6 bolts attaching the manifolds to the head, but, the 4 attaching the two manifolds together is a crap shoot as to if you'll get them out without a fight

[Jeepsbeme]

My question was relating to the manifold to head bolts. Thank you both for your interest in answering my question!

The intake manifold gaskets in my '73 don't appear to be leaking (using the standard carb cleaner test) but of course it's always hard to check the bottom side. But even if they're not leaking now - I'm sure they will in the future. So I'd rather replace the gaskets at my convenience instead of having to replace them when I have no choice.