Hey guys,

I have this loud annoying squeak\chirp coming from somewhere in the engine\belt area. It only starts happening when I drive the car for a few miles and it warms all the way up. For the first few miles after I start it it's nice and quiet. It doesn't happen when I'm just sitting at idle or driving really slow (i.e. not touching the gas at all).
When I give it some gas in gear, it immediately starts squeaking for as long as I'm holding the gas. If I give it some gas in neutral, it squeaks for like a second, and then it goes away. If I put it in reverse, but hold the brakes, and then just turn the steering wheel, it also starts squeaking.
I had a gatorback belt that was a few years old that I just replaced with a new one today, but the squeak is still there. While I was replacing it I checked all the pulleys, and they seem to be fine. I even tried spraying the pulleys with WD-40 with the engine running to see if the noise goes away - it doesn't.

I searched high and low, but most people have the exact opposite - they have a noise that goes away when the car warms up.
The sounds seems to be coming from the right side of the engine - somewhere in the power steering pulley area.

Any ideas on WTF this might be?

Its eaither an idler or the water pump. Its a dead bearing. You can use a long flat head screw driver and set the tip on each parts bolt and listen to the handle for the noise. The loudest one is more then likely the culprit.

most lickely idler pulley....it happened to me.

ive seen the tensioner loose just a little tension and the belt squeaks, but spraying wd on the belt should of made it stop for a sec

If i was u...just replace the idler pulley its like a 12 dollar part...plus in the future you'll have to change it anyways b/c they tend to start squeeking. My 1st mark only had about 65,000 miles when it started squeeking.

mine did the same thing replaced it twice now easy to change takes about 5 minutes.

Mine was doing the exact same thing. i changed all the pulleys and it was still there...ended up being the belt. when my car got to operating temp. the heat was making the belt expand, making an belt that was stretched from age stretch a little more so it would make a squeak when it slipped a lil.

Mine does that only does a quick squeak when it shifts at about 5800 rpm... cant figure it out..

Mine does that only does a quick squeak when it shifts at about 5800 rpm... cant figure it out..

ditto :burnout:

Either the pulley or water pump. Spray WD behind the top pulley WHILE THE COOLING FAN IS OFF and see if it goes away. If not, I would check into the water pump. If you end up needing one, I have one I'll sell fairly cheap.

Thanks for you suggestions guys.
Here's what I did so far:
put in a brand new gatorback belt (replaced an old gatorback)
replaced the whole belt tensioner assembly with a brand new gates unit
replaced the idler pulley with the one from the old tensioner just to see if it makes any difference

all that made no difference whatsoever.
I isolated the squeak to the area around the power steering pulley. Do these just go bad?

My biggest question is why does it only happen when the car is hot? And why does it only happen when I put a load on the engine or stomp on the gas in neutral?
Is there anything other than the pulleys that could make this annoying squeak? Motor mounts? Any other moving parts in that area?

I hate just wasting money throwing parts at the problem...

Thanks guys!

Flip the belt around so it rotates in the opposite direction...

Turn the stereo up. Cured my clunk sound. :D

Mine does that only does a quick squeak when it shifts at about 5800 rpm... cant figure it out..

get a goodyear gatorback belt....fixed, been there same problem with 94tbird, and my previous mark viii...i grabbed the gatorback off it when i got the new 1993 mark

You should hear my Vic squeak the belt on the shifts....

Turn the stereo up. Cured my clunk sound. :D

That's what I usually do, but my alpine headunit broke down a couple of months ago, so I'm stuck with all the annoying little noises the car makes.

Well, I replaced the power steering pulley today. What a PITA!
It still squeaks like a mofo.
Can the bearing inside the actual power steering pump go bad and cause squeaking?

The first time it happened it was my idler pulley. This latest time it was my belt.

Juat a question about those pesky idler/tensioner pullies. Is there some kind of special technique for installing those ba$tards? I have replaced mine probably 4 or 5 times in the past 10 years. Every time I replace one, the other starts squealing. They just don't last. I don't get it. Of course, I've bought mine from either Advance or AutoZone. That may be my problem. Should I get a factory Ford part? Those little buggers just drive me nuts. I'll install a new one and it'll be perfectly quiet for months. Then it'll start squealing again. Irritation, thy name is idler pulley.