Ford Explorer: 2003 Aviator -- Alternator wine?

So I have a 2003 Aviator with 2500miles on it. I've noticed a
pronounced wine at 10-15MPH and a harder to hear wine at 40MPH.

At 10-15 if I lift completely off the gas pedal it goes away, but if I
just barely "blip" the throttle it is very easy to hear. At 40MPH it
is just a constant wine.

Anyway, I took it to the dealer and they said there is a TSB on this
and it is normal and I shouldn't worry 'bout it.

Is this something common with Explorers? Do you notice the sound and
tune it out? Should I just take the dealers word for it or should I
continue to pester 'em at every scheduled maintenance?

--
-rupa

So, I took the car out again at lunch and tried to narrow this down.

Locked in 1st and 2nd show the whine at 5-15mph. I don't hear the
whine at higher speeds because the pitch has gone beyond the range I
can here.

Locked in 3rd shows no whine.

Drive shows wine from 5-15mph and again at around 40. Harder to hear
it around 40 due to road noise and engine noise.

Neutral shows no whine.

No deflectors on my aviator, no sunroof either. The aviator also
doesn't have an antenna mast (uses an antenna embedded in the rear
right glass). Also, I would think I'd only notice noise at the higher
speeds (40) and not at 5-15 if it were related to wind noise..


I'm waiting for the dealer to fax the TSB that describes the "normal"
sound and see if it matches up. If not, I'll have the dealer
re-evaluate this at my upcoming 5K service interval.

"Al Williams" <com> writes:
 

--
-rupa