Chirp/squeal noise from pulley when warm

[SLOWBRA]

I took a beautiful trip on the Blue Ridge Parkway yesterday. After my 3 hour drive to the parkway, I developed a chirping/squealing noise that lasted for about 8 hours. Seemed to get worse as the trip went along. I do not have any cold start noise/squeal.

It's coming from the engine pulley/belt area near the SC. My best guess is that it's from a pulley on the drivers side towards the top.

At idle when warm I was hearing a very light chirp. The noise goes away when I give it some gas or put a load on it it, but the noise is very loud as the rpms are coming back down. It is only doing this when the engine is warm (driving for a while). I went out this AM to isolate the pulley, but the car is dead quiet now.

I've read through a lot of threads and have some long hose to help me pinpoint what pulley it is. I just need it to act up again.

Car is stock with the exception of a lower pulley. The noise is not coming from the lower pulley and only comes when the engine is warmed up.

Any advice what specifically to check? My gut tells me it's a tension pulley.

 

[mrose75]

I've noticed mine does that occasionally now as well. I'm upper only though. Same story. When I leave I hear nothing. It's when I'm backing back into the garage that I notice the squealing. But only sometimes.

 

[CobraBob]

Are you sure it's coming from the pulley? It isn't uncommon for belts to chirp when they glaze. Easiest way to find out is to spray a mist of water on the belt with the engine running. If the chirping goes away immediately and then returns after a few seconds then it's the belt.

 

[SLOWBRA]

I saw your other post Cobrabob and will test that when it starts again. Would a belt only act up when warm?

 

[balboky01]

Could it be one of the idlers?? My middle one was chirping pretty bad and it was doing the same thing as yours...

 

[mrose75]

Not sure where my squealing is coming from and it's hit or miss. Hasn't happened to often.

 

[SLOWBRA]

Update: Water on the belt does not quiet the noise. Today, it took about 30 minutes of driving in 90+ degree weather to get it to start acting up. The noise is barely audible at idle, but when I rev up the car it gets very loud when the RPMs are coming back down (load off motor). I will likely need to get a stethoscope to locate this as a long hose isn't working. Any tricks outside of using a scope on the bolt head?

 

[SLOWBRA]

Final update: Replaced the entire tensioner with pulley and the other two idler pulleys on the pulley bridge a few weeks ago. All is well now. I don't know which one was causing my problems, but they are all better now thanks to Tousley Ford!

 

[CobraBob]

Thanks for your final update Shawn. Unfortunately, not many think to do this and it is very helpful for others with a similar problem. Posting the solution gives them the solution.

By the way, did you replace them with stock or aftermarket idlers? You mentioned Tousley so I assume you bought aftermarket idlers.

 

[SLOWBRA]

I agree CobraBob. I researched for days and just did what I thought was best. Steve and Mike at Tousley helped source factory replacements. It's very cheap to just replace them all.

 

[SLOWBRA]

Another update...

After about 600 miles of driving on the new pulleys my problem came back. I pinpointed the noise to the pulley on the tensioner again. Tousley Ford was kind enough to swap this out under warranty (they swap out the entire tensioner including the pulley). This was fine for about 200 miles and now this too is making noise. This is the third tensioner pulley that has gone bad. Something is causing the bearing on the pulley to continue to go out.

In summary:
The OEM tensioner pulleys lasted 17K miles and another 1,500 miles with the 4lb Metco lower that I have. The second pulley lasted 600 miles. The third pulley lasted 200 miles.

It's not the belt chirping, it's definitely the tensioner pulley bearing going out. My guess is either the belt is too tight or somehow something is misaligned. Any thoughts?

 

[cobracide]

Just upgrade your whole idler set and go from there. After that if your tension is pegged, notch it

 

[SLOWBRA]

Do you mean go for aftermarket pulleys or get additional idlers?

 

[cobracide]

Upgrade your entire idler set. This is 2003 Cobra standard proceedure - see the faq.

 

[Cobra8urZ06]

I only have the belt chirp deal when the engine is cold. After driving for about 10-15 minutes it goes away.

I sprayed water on my belt and the sound went away. Also when after it rains my car doesn't make the noise. I am guessing water gets down onto the belt through the hood.

I am guesisng I don't have a pulley problem then and most likely a belt?

 

[Jimmysidecarr]

It's worth a try, it never hurts to have a spare belt around, save the old one.

 

[SLOWBRA]

A couple of things about my issue:

Water on the belt doesn't make my noise go away. I don't want my issue to get confused with the above poster.

Mine gets worse when the engine is warm. I don't hear the noise until the car's been running for 30-40 minutes.

I have stayed away from aftermarket pulleys to keep the car stock "looking" haha. I am not opposed to replacing them with aftermarket items as suggested now, however, my understanding is the aftermarket pulleys use the same bearing as OEM.

I'll read the FAQ about the idlers to get up to speed. For now I am assuming this adds an idler to remove tension from other pulleys, thus creating less stress on the pulleys overall?

 

[mpm]

A couple of things about my issue:

Water on the belt doesn't make my noise go away. I don't want my issue to get confused with the above poster.

Mine gets worse when the engine is warm. I don't hear the noise until the car's been running for 30-40 minutes.

I have stayed away from aftermarket pulleys to keep the car stock "looking" haha. I am not opposed to replacing them with aftermarket items as suggested now, however, my understanding is the aftermarket pulleys use the same bearing as OEM.

I'll read the FAQ about the idlers to get up to speed. For now I am assuming this adds an idler to remove tension from other pulleys, thus creating less stress on the pulleys overall?

Did you ever find a resolution for the idle squeak?

 

[SLOWBRA]

I spoke with one of the engineers at Metco. They had me send back my crank hub for inspection. After inspection they removed material from the back of the hub as much as possible keeping it within the specification range. I don't know if mine was out of spec, or if the high end of the spec was too much for my car. Apparently, the small amount of material they removed was enough to cause bearing failures on the idler pulley. Their fix resolved my issue completely.

BTW - Metco was really helpful and awesome to deal with regarding this. They wanted to get to the bottom of this as much as I did.

 

[CobraBob]

An old thread resurrection, but worth it in this case. Nice to know what ultimately fixed your chirping issue. Also nice to know how helpful Metco was. Thumbs up for them! :thumbsup: