Whine after getting stuck in the mud while in water

Hello all
Earlier today I went through a water crossing that was a bit muddier than I expected and got stuck for about 2 minutes before I worked my way out. Water was just a bit higher than the bottom of my doors. After the incident I noticed a high pitch whine coming from the motor that correlated with the RPM's and was audiable while revving the motor while in park. The truck has since dried off however the whine is there pretty much through the entire RPM range.

I should note I haven't done the stethoscope trick yet, I was waiting for everything to dry off before trying.

Any thoughts on what it might be? The truck has 124k on it and is up to date on service intervals.
Thanks all
-J

 

probably a drive pulley

 

water may have got in something, check all your fluids, oil, power steering, trans, gear oil ect...
Or let it dry out and see if it goes away...

 

Sounds like a pulley to me as well.. should dry out on its own.. may have some whine after that until all the grit and crap that was in that water works itself loose... compressed air/ lubricate spray can help with this and shut it up.

But agree..check all fluids..especially power steering..brake. etc.

I've driven through deep water plenty of times, either while offroading..or when norfolk VA would flood due to heavy rain. Never had an issue.. it's when you get it above the hood/fender (air intake is in there) then you risk problems...

 

Jason, I am guessing it is your alternator, I know they are mounted pretty low on the V6s, and right before mine went out, it started to make a high pitch whine.

 

Guess I'm going a full fluids flush... And I'll check the bearings. Hopefully it's not the alternator - pretty sure the previous owner did it about 2 years ago.

Thanks for the suggestions guys! Just didn't think 2-3 minutes of murky water would make such a huge difference...

 

My guess would be the alt as well. Look for mud in it or the pulleys and hose them off.

 

Just out of curiousity did you relocate your rear diff breather? Could've sucked some nasty in there, even if it's not the source of the noise you should check and probably change the oil.

 

Yep that's the first thing I did to my truck because of the puddles up here. I'm going to stethoscope around on Wednesday for the noise maker. I can Rev the motor and it makes the noise when the truck is parked. Should be easy to find the source hopefully its not the alternator...

 

sounds like alternator whine to me also.

 

Thank god, someone else having the same noise as me! I hit a muddy water crossing in some trails about 2 weeks ago, pressure washed the engine bay, got the pulleys good, got the alternator but didnt wanna drench it with the pressure washer. BUT THE SOUNDS STILL THERE (sounds like a shitty ford power steering pump) but i did some checking with the old bigass pry bar to the ear trick and to me its kinda sounding like alternator whine. Either that or its the idler pulley (possibly? Thats what ive read in other threads) So at this point do i wait for my alternator to work the grime and stuff out or should i really get in there good and check it out, or just wait till something shits the bed then fix it. Any help would be much appreciated!

Also just found this...might be doing this in the future

 

That link doesn't give the part number for a 4.0 V6 so just be wary on that. I'll take a look at the idler pulley, I'm praying its not the alternator still...

I hope this isn't going to happen everytime I get stuck in some water/mud....

 

Pulley. Could be any of them. For me, it was my tensioner pulley when I had similar circumstances (recovered a Chevy 1500 from deep mud / water, spent an hour driving around in the water / mud to get him out).

 

I know it doesnt specify "4.0 Tacoma" but he had the same problem so idk we will see, hopefully it will just go away! Fingers crossed.

 

Maybe mud gremlins installed a supercharger while you were submersed.

But more likely the alternator.