belt chirping sound

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upnorthLS

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I had a slight chirping sound lately upon first start up of the day, kinda like a belt chirp so I decided to change the bearing in the belt tensioner pulley. It is a fairly easy job and the bearing is only 7 bucks. Much cheaper than changing the complete belt tensioner. I'm sure alot of you guys know this already but thought I would post this info. The chirping sound is totally gone, nice and quiet again.
 
There's actually a TSB about chirping that happens only at start-up. It more or less says to do just what you did.
 
same issue but sound near hydraulic pump

we have 00 3.9 LS and have the same issue with a chirping or squeaking sound on first startup, after a bit, it quiets down beyond my ability to hear it. The only thing is the chirp/squeak is coming from the hydraulic pump area.

I did a quick test when the car was cold and the chirp/squeak was happening, by using a squirt bottle with water and spraying a stream on the belt surface at the idler pulley. When the water hit the pulley/belt the squeak stopped momentarily, then resumed. Repeating the procedure produced the same results.

I replaced the belt and the unflanged idler pulley (top left of center facing the windshield). The reason for the pulley change was a bunch of rubber crud on the surface which contacts the belt. Not sure if someone (previous owner) sprayed some junk on it or not, but looked problematic. Also the pulley (with the belt off) had a slight rocking motion. Not much, but a tiny bit of play.

Of course there was no sound when I started the car as it was warm from previous errands.

Unfortunately, the next morning my wife went out and started it, only to get the same sound again. With the car running and hood up, the chirp/squeak appeared to be centralized in the area of the hydraulic pump/pulley.

The car does not overheat and after the chirp/squeak dies off, it sounds good.

Wonder if anybody has had a similar experience.

After reading posts going back to 2004, almost everybody has had this issue apparently.

best
Greg
 
Last edited:
glad I found this thread. I just put a new alternator and serp belt on my 01 v8 and out of nowhere it started the belt squeal on startup. Mine only lasts about 2 seconds but I imagine it will get worse.

read this somewhere, interesting diag

"It is very likely that the alternator belt is slipping. It tries to hurry up and get the battery charged up after starting and takes quite a bit of torque."

while I know the LS uses 1 belt, wonder if this might still apply. If you notice, when you start the LS it jumps to high idle for a second or two then revs down, that's the point my squeal stops.
 
I changed the tensioner (assy) and idler pulley along with a new belt.

no difference

mechanic said (without looking at it) it could be a bearing.

I'm not sure about a bearing as the chirping quits when water is squirted on the belt and starts as soon as it evaporates.

happens every time the engine is cool
 
112 LS said:
glad I found this thread. I just put a new alternator and serp belt on my 01 v8 and out of nowhere it started the belt squeal on startup. Mine only lasts about 2 seconds but I imagine it will get worse.

read this somewhere, interesting diag

"It is very likely that the alternator belt is slipping. It tries to hurry up and get the battery charged up after starting and takes quite a bit of torque."

while I know the LS uses 1 belt, wonder if this might still apply. If you notice, when you start the LS it jumps to high idle for a second or two then revs down, that's the point my squeal stops.
Click to expand...

A squeal is different than a chirp.
You have either:
1. The wrong belt.
2. A bad belt.
3. A bad tensioner.
4. The wrong alternator pulley.
5. A bad alternator pulley.
 
cirelle said:
I changed the tensioner (assy) and idler pulley along with a new belt.

no difference

mechanic said (without looking at it) it could be a bearing.

I'm not sure about a bearing as the chirping quits when water is squirted on the belt and starts as soon as it evaporates.

happens every time the engine is cool
Click to expand...

When it is chirping, take a look at the damper pulley. Is it dancing around in ways that it shouldn't?
 
joegr said:
When it is chirping, take a look at the damper pulley. Is it dancing around in ways that it shouldn't?
Click to expand...

I checked for pulley motion when running and nothing looks abnormal from what I could tell.

the chirp sounds like it is coming from the hydraulic pump are, it also could be from the alternator area as they are fairly close in proximity.

I read in a post (on this board), if squirting water on the suspected pulley (when running) quiets the chirp, it is the belt. '

So I replaced the belt, still the same chirp after the change.

Belt looks like it is tracking properly in the groves and doesn't appear to be traveling on the idler pulleys.

I've even thought about trying to replace the belt with a gator belt (someone on the board also suggested that), but didn't find one local.

When the car warms up, it sounds normal...

Don't know what else to do for the moment.
 
After blowing coolant hoses and covering the belt with anti-freeze multiple times, my '03 LS8 started squeaking. A new Ford belt and sanding/cleaning the pulleys didn't stop the squeak. I had read online the Goodyear Gaterback belts are effective at stopping sqeaks, so I bought one and installed it. No more squeak! It's been perfectly quiet for the last 10,000 miles. I HATE Goodyear products, but the Gatorback belt is definitely a problem solver!!!!
 
maybe not so much, my belt didn't start chirping until I installed a goodyear gatorback. I think it's the pulley.
 
Could the issue be some small drops of antifreeze dripping from the thermostat area on a V8? Mine chirped once and I had drops of antifreeze drop onto the pully and never hit the ground. It never lost enough fluid to affect any overheating. With all the plastic in the cooling area, it could be a crack allowing antifreeze to drip out onto a pully or belt.
 
everything is dry. don't have any dripping on the garage floor from any fluid, and all looks dry, as I checked the pulleys when I changed the belt last time and everything was dry. I paid close attention to the area of the chirp and everything seems dry to me. Good thought though.

I'm going to pop on a gator belt as the last link in the chain of fixes.

The thing with the gator is the ability to accommodate minor mis-alignments of pulleys. In laymans terms covers the excess slop ;) so I'll see if that makes a difference.

Will post the results as I will know right after the install.
 
still waiting for the belt to arrive, ordered it last thursday. postal tracking says it's at the sort facility in the next town. could get it today or tomorrow.

Will post my results once the belt is on.
 
Had same problem, chirping sound coming from fan pump, alternator area each cold start for couple minutes. Problem has gone after changing belt, so it might be your case also.
 
Hope so, I changed the fluids in the power steering and hydraulic pump, as I didn't know what was in there and the PS fluid was cloudy. No difference in the chirping sound (so cricket still has a voice :) ) Waiting for the belt to be delivered, should get here sometime tomorrow.
 
Well the Gatorback Poly V belt arrived and just installed it.

Chirp All Gone!

Also noticed at idle the headlights no longer dim down (slight but was noticeable) which tells me not only was there a chirp, but it was slipping as well.

But now All Better!

Thanx to all for the pointers.
 
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