Whistling wind noise - can't eliminate

[ovysimac]

Hello All,

In the last year/maybe less, while driving starting at 65MPH and upward, I developed a high-pitched wind whistling noise around the top of both doors (or so I think). I tried everything I could think of to locate the exact source of the noise and eliminate it but to no avail. I even discovered a TCB issued by Ford on how to diagnose and repair wind noise at doors, but it did not help me on my Mark 8.
NOTE: No sun/moonroof, side windows close tight, no water leaks, no rust (desert car), body is straight with no known accidents/body work, no deflectors/mickey-mouse body add-ons/skirts/etc. - just stock.

What I did so far:

• Used weatherstrip foam inside the top edge of the door - no luck, albeit it diminished the noise a little for a while until it reappeared
• Replaced the top weatherstrip/seal on driver's side with a good used one (the one that looks like an upside down "7") - no luck.
• Used various types of rubber stick-on weatherstrip (P-shaped, D-shaped, flat, a combination of these, etc) on the inside lip of both doors, from the bottom corner of the windshield all around the inside top of the door to about the door handle)-no luck
• I used a grip-on U-shaped rubber seal (upside-down U) on the top door lip (both doors) from the bottom of the windshield to the rear upper corner of the doors thinking that it'll seal shut the top seam of the doors - no luck.
• I taped the outside of the pass door shut, covering all the seams, including the pass side of the windshield to see if there's at least a change in noise pitch in order to locate the whistling source - no luck
• With the doors closed, I even caulked the little gap between the top of the driver's door (and afterward the pass. door too) and the upper seal (the upside-down 7), from the bottom of the windshield to the top-rear corner of the door - no luck
• I taped around the side window while fully raised thinking it may be a window weatherstrip leak - no luck
• I even stuffed foam in the gap between the top of the pass. front fender and hood-no luck
• Moved the latch inward a little on both doors to make them close tighter to the point where you need to almost slam them to close-no luck
• I verified that both doors close the way they're supposed to, with no mis-alignment - the doors are perfectly aligned (perfectly as in a 25 y/o car)
• Doors do not wiggle leading me to think that the hinges are still good/with no aberrant movement in them

I'm at a point where I think that the noise doesn't come from around the doors. I am totally stumped/ object of my colleagues' scorn as I appear every day at work with my Mark in different stages of this experiment. I can't even listen to my radio because of the hi-pitched whistling noise, and I commute 65 miles round trip every day to work. I am now contemplating selling the vehicle to preserve my sanity, even though it runs well and is a reliable daily driver.

I appreciate any tips/comments/advice which may lead to fixing/or at least improving on this noise situation. Thank you.

 

[ONLYTONY]

Sounds like you've done a lot. I would check firewall for air flow. Bottom of door, where air can get in, and come out near glass. Tape around rear side windows. You never know what past owners might have done, changed a rear window and didn't seal it right.

 

[tixer]

From the factory, The Mark VIII came with a little block of foam attached to the weatherstrip of each door at about the point where the door meets the hood. These are nearly always missing, but you'll see a little bit of residue on the gasket where the block was glued into place.

This was presumably to prevent air coming off the hood from working its way up the outside of the door gasket, and I can't help but wonder if that wouldn't cause your noise, also.

I've also heard that if the door gaskets have "flattened" over time, one can thread some rubber tubing through the opening inside the gasket to stiffen it back up again. I've never tried this, but I can see how it could be possible.

 

[ONLYTONY]

Behind the front fender liner, there is a piece of fiber that would allow crap to get stuck there, and stay wet. A lot of people cut some off, as I did, but I filled area with spray foam, that I can see when the door is opened. In pic you can see where bottom gets wet. If it was cut off, and not sealed, it would air to get to your door.

 

[ovysimac]

Tixer,

That's exactly where I stuffed some foam, on passenger side, but it did not do any good. Thanks for your tip though... This weekend will try to add some foam tape to the door gaskets and see if I can hear a difference in pitch. If so, I'll then try and stiffen the d-shaped weatherstrip using your suggested method.

 

[LeoC2]

Here's a thought, may sound crazy but it may help pinpoint where the noise is coming from. Take some painter's blue tape and seal the doors shut with you inside, tape all around the doors. Drive the car and see if there is any noise change. If noise is gone you know it's a door seal, if no difference you know air is entering door chamber by another route.

 

[ONLYTONY]

Get one of those squeeze bottle smokers, like they use to check your house for air leaks. Have somebody ride with you at 65 mph, and see if smoke will find the leak.

 

[Ford nut]

How bad is your rear window seal? Mine would whistle until I put in a newer window with better trim.

 

[ovysimac]

I used blue masking tape to tape all the seams around passenger door, pass. window and pass side of the windshield and drove it on the freeway 60-70 mph but the whistling noise didn't change one bit... So back to square one...

Side windows and back window are tight, no sign of being tampered with.

Wife drove with me yesterday and said the whistling seems to come from around the top hinge of the pass. door, or in that area. Taped the door shut again and the whistling noise is still unchanged. I'm at the point where I can't drive the car at highway speeds without windows cracked open (which probably created an over-pressure in the cabin and blocked some of the whistling) or ear muffs - that's how bad/loud the whistling from both doors is. Checked the window weatherstrip - it is tight. Taped around the window - no change.
I'll probably sell the darn thing...

 

[billcu]

Maybe it's the mirror? Try moving the adjustment or tape that up?

 

[LeoC2]

Do you think it's possible that the noise is coming from somewhere else other than the doors? Could a noise in the engine compartment or under the car be transferring to the interior giving the impression it's coming from the doors? Sunroof maybe?

Something like when there's a vibration in one part of the car but you hear it in another. For example Moose's parking cable is sometimes rapping on the exhaust in the rear, to me it sounds like it's coming from an entirely different location, drove me nuts before I was able to isolate it.

 

[chris2523]

check your windshield wipers.
they've been known to do things like this.

 

[ovysimac]

I checked the windshield wipers (I drove without them) and it did not change the whistling noise. Thanks for the tip though.

I thought that the noise comes from somewhere else around the door/front quarter of vehicle (both sides) and I bought a mechanic's stethoscope to try and locate the source. It seems that it actually comes from the upper and front edge of the door (where I thought it came from all along). Despite the fact that I can't drive and use the stethoscope too well (will need wifey's help this weekend) I managed to identify two (2) different whistling superimposed over each other, as follows:
- The most annoying one is a very loud/sharp whistling noise which goes away almost entirely when the window is cracked open. (This is how I drive now). It changes the pitch with each 1/18' of window opening (from extremely loud at 0 opening to totally gone at 2-3 inch window opening). So I taped around the window, I installed an upside-down u-shaped rubber channel weatherstrip on top of the window to verify the air tightness of the window weatherstrip and it did not change or eliminate the whistling.
- The other sound, more subdued, would not change or disappear when the window is rolled down in any position. This noise may be from the door weatherstrip itself (or so I think). Problem is, no matter what I did I couldn't eliminate any of these 2 noises. Checked again the alignment of doors - they are aligned and close smoothly.

Sorry to beat a dead horse but this constant very loud hi-pitched whistling is driving me insane/loosing my hearing. Does anyone know of a spray that is easily removable/cleanable that I can spray around the whole door/front quarter to once and for all determine if the noise comes from the door or from somewhere else? Similar to the fake snow spray (the one you spray on your Christmas tree to look snowed) or something else water soluble? Am I already insane??

 

[ONLYTONY]

Another thought; maybe your cabin is real tight, and pressured. Pop the rear seat and see if it changes. You tried most everything. Light up a couple of big 0 cigars, the smoke will find the leak, then clean the interior top to bottom.

 

[ovysimac]

MY LAST TRY BEFORE I GIVE UP…

I drove the car with my wife doing the listening. One thing is sure: The whistling does not come from the top door weatherstrip. Please see pic:
wife marked with erasable red marker where the noise id coming from (marked also with letters A-F).

Besides that, I feel some cold outside air coming in from the interior door handle weatherstrip (black arrow).
· I installed a U-shaped weatherstrip to seal the door-to-fender gap (both sides) (pic 2)
· I installed foam weatherstrip inside the doors parallel to the existing rubber seal to eliminate any air seepage
· I tried to temporarily seal the body panel gaps where the windshield, door window, front fender, and hood meet (pic 2)
· Sheet metal is as good as new, never been in an accident, no rust (Nevada car), plenty of foam and weatherstrip tried all over both door seams

NOTE: The whistling noise started a few years ago but I managed to add weatherstrip foam around the top of both doors and it disappeared until a few months ago when adding more weatherstrip of many kinds (pls. read my first post) stopped doing any good. So, it is not due to any fender-bender or body modifications.
Do you have any suggestions?
How would air get inside the door to come out through the door handle area??
Thank you all for your comments/suggestions/tips. Happy (and quiet) motoring!

 

[tixer]

The mark on the door pull got me thinking.

There's a rubber gasket of sorts behind the exterior door handle. I wonder if it has failed/folded/degraded. That's one more surface you could "tape off" to check for air leaks.

Also, could air be routed into the door from under the hood somewhere?

I distinctly remember going on vacations in the 'ol family station wagon as a kid, feeling pretty significant airflow from around the interior handle. That was a Ford, too.. (Well, Mercury, anyway)

 

[ONLYTONY]

Wild shot, Could someone have worked on the door, and forgot to replace this part?

 

[tixer]

Good idea, Tony. I was wondering about that too too. Or maybe if part of it has fallen out of position..

 

[ovysimac]

I owned this car since 2006 and the whistling noise appeared a few years after buying it, but I managed to eliminate the noise using foam weatherstrip around the interior of the top of both doors. A few months the whistling noise gradually came back and nothing I did (as described in this thread) did any good in eliminating (or at least alleviating) the problem. So no, the door was not worked on in the last 12 years. The air coming from the door pull is a by-product and won't make much (if any) noise - the main problem is the whistling noise coming from areas marked with letters A to F in pic 1.

On the other hand, in my youth when I was driving very fast but didn't have money to buy newer cars, I had some Audis, Chevys and who remembers what else with missing interior door panel(s), or missing door "sound deadener" as in Tony's pic. Some doors had only a brittle plastic foil that I just tore off and never replaced... Never had such a high-pitched and really loud whistling noise, just regular wind noise as in convertibles. So I'm totally stumped...

 

[driller]

I've been following this thread and had hoped to offer some kernel of wisdom but I can't come up with anything that hasn't already been mentioned.

Usually when that happens, I ask myself "what would I do"? (Often that answer is a bit twisted or over the top but in this case, perhaps not.) If it were me and one of my cars - I would buy new replacement weatherstripping for the doors from supercoupeperformance.com

It's not a cheap solution and certainly not guaranteed to be the fix for the problem. But I can't help but think it is one of the better options to pursue in this case.