Funny Noise

[chitownvic]

Since the weather has been turning cold around her I have noticed a funny noise the vic has been making when I start her up in the morning. The noise is a chearping, ratling noise thats comming from under the hood. At first i didnt think much of it becaus once the car warmed up it went away. and since the weather went back to being warm for a few days it has not made the noise. The cold weather returned tonight and I when I started the car to move into the drive way the noise was there again but louder. I brought it to my brothers attention tonight and as he looked under the hood he suggested that maybe the belt tensioner is going bad. does anyone have any ideas ? Thanks

[RedThunder94]

prolly idler pulley or tensioner pulley, my gm is doing that changed out the idler to find out it was the tensioner pulley, exact same noise you describe with temp and everything.

[gadget73]

idler pulley / belt tensioner sounds like a probable suspect to me as well. Remove the belt and spin all the pulleys and see if one is making noises. Boxes have 2 belts and one idler/tensioner, 4.6 cars have 1 belt and I believe 1 tensioner and 1 idler.

[Pesty351]

I've heard water pumps make that noise when the bearings are going out.

[chitownvic]

Thanks

Thanks for your help guys, Im pretty sure its one of the tensioners. im gonna go ahead and price them out.

[TomO]

I had an '86 Mustang GT 5.0 that started making a chirping sound. It gradually got worse and I finally figured out it was the alternator bearing.

My suggestion is to do one or both of these things:

1) remove the belt or belts and start the engine. If you don't hear the sound, then you know it probably is coming from one of the accessories like the alternator or smog pump etc.

2) you can sometimes hear the sound if you turn the accessory (e.g. alternator) by hand with the belt removed and engine off. If you think it might be the alternator, you can put the belt back on, then squirt a little bit of WD-40 at the bearing, then start the car. If you don't hear the sound, then it's probably the alternator bearing. When I changed out the alternator the problem went away.

I'm not an expert mechanic, so either of these things might not be the right thing to do, but that's how I figured out how my alternator bearing was making noise.

[86VickyLX]

I had an '86 Mustang GT 5.0 that started making a chirping sound. It gradually got worse and I finally figured out it was the alternator bearing.

My suggestion is to do one or both of these things:

1) remove the belt or belts and start the engine. If you don't hear the sound, then you know it probably is coming from one of the accessories like the alternator or smog pump etc.

2) you can sometimes hear the sound if you turn the accessory (e.g. alternator) by hand with the belt removed and engine off. If you think it might be the alternator, you can put the belt back on, then squirt a little bit of WD-40 at the bearing, then start the car. If you don't hear the sound, then it's probably the alternator bearing. When I changed out the alternator the problem went away.

I'm not an expert mechanic, so either of these things might not be the right thing to do, but that's how I figured out how my alternator bearing was making noise.

+1
I think it's the alternator too. They can sound like a squeaky belt.

[chitownvic]

Thanks for your help guys, but it was actually the idler pulley barings that went bad I took the belt off and spun it by hand and then heard the noise so I proceede to changr it, Changed the pulley and havent heard no noise since.