I have an automatic 94 civic ex, and there's a grinding/ chirping sound coming from under the hood when im driving. It only does it when im accelerating, no matter how soft i touch the gas pedal, i can hear it. It doesnt do it any other time than when i give it gas and going forward, not reverse, neutral or parked. And the more gas i give it, the louder and faster the sound gets. what could it be???

 

First thing that comes to mind is wheel bearings. This is only a guess from the info youve provided

 

This is probably not the case, but is definitely worth looking into: sometimes when alternators go bad the bearings wear out and it will give off a characteristic whining and grinding noise. Obviously this gets worse when you put a load on it, such as the headlights, and can get louder when you accelerate. However, since you said it doesn't do it in neutral, I don't think this is the problem. Couldn't hurt to take it to AutoZone or Advance Auto Parts and have them run a free multimeter test on your electrical system (battery and alternator). Good luck.

 

Is there a chance it could be something in the engine? You can't really hear the sound when the car is cold but after warm up, its louder.

 

How old are your front brake pads?

 

The brake pads are fairly new, replaced them in not so long ago

 

@ crazyhouse2011 you sound more accurate than my first guess

Check the idler pulley it could be going out when the bearing goes out to you get the grinding noise sometimes it catches and gets stuck which causes the belt to spin around the pulley cause the chirpping

 

Pop the hood and have someone step on the gas while on neutral and see if you can pin point the location of the noise.

if it only happens when the car is moving then i would guess a bearing or water pump. Check for leaks.

Does your tranny shift fine?

 

Does the car vibrate alot? Maybe motor mounts.

 

We just replaced the water pump last weekend, tranny feels fine and the engine doesn't vibrate alot

 

Someone told me the sound is "engine pinging" how could i fix this?