I got the cat replaced at a local muffler shop, parts and labor set me back a bit over a hundred. The tensioner pulley was also replace. The engine runs quieter now, BUT...
When I took the Maxima in I told the mechanic that the car makes a high-pitched noise very often. It only makes the noise once I’ve driven it for a while (all warmed up I guess) AND I have my foot off the gas. For example, when I come to a red light, or am sitting in a drive-through line. Since the sound is pretty annoying (it’s loud, but it’s the high frequency of it that makes it more embarrassing) I usually try to get rid of it by putting the car in Park, which sometimes helps, sometimes makes no difference. If I apply even the tiniest bit of gas, so the RPM goes up, the noise stops instantly, to return again when the RPM drops to normal idle values. The engine usually idles at around 500-600 RPM.
Well the mechanic heard the sound because it was making it when I took it to the first place but he said to me that it was “probably just that truck driving by making the noise, its brakes or something.” While the new pulley and the cat have made the engine run otherwise nicely, this mysterious sound still persists. It is difficult to demonstrate the sound on cue so I ran the car for an hour and taped it once it started making the noise again. Unfortunately it was only making it when the car was in Drive so I had to just video the engine from afar and not up close – since I was by myself.
I would appreciate it if you could please take a look at the clip at
and let me know if it sounds like anything you’ve heard before.