[legion]

Driving the Chevy Express today and when I came to a stop at a stop light, I heard a high-pitched, hydraulic-pump like whine coming from the front of the vehicle. I had had the transmissions fluid replaced a week ago (preventative--it was a used rental when I bought it). I became concerned that something might be going with the transmission. But the sound clearly sounded more like a power steering pump whining.

On the way home I grabbed lunch for the family at a drive thru, and I found that the sound went away when I put it in park. Did taking a load off the engine have something to do with it? Even stranger, I found the sound returned when I shifted into neutral (either from drive or park).

I got home and got to investigating. I had my wife help as I needed someone to shift it to drive and keep their foot on the brake. She put it in drive and I immediately heard the whine but I couldn't place it. I got out my mechanic's stethoscope and checked the power steering pump. Nope. I checked the brake booster. Nope. I checked the engine block. Lots of noise, but no whine.

Then I found it....

The driver's side headlight! I had put cheap, $10 LED bulbs in a year ago. The one on the drivers side was not lighting but the fan on the back was making the whining noise. I was actually really happy with the performance of the headlights, but I'm not surprised that they failed so quickly given the price point. I had actually ordered two sets so I removed the year-old set and replaced them with the new ones. I'll order another set of nicer ones for when these fail.