Good morning Xavier,

Today I'm going to chirp from underneath the hood. It's been a while since you've driven me and this is certainly the coldest it's been since you've owned me. 38 degrees F to be exact.

You might have noticed I chirped while I idled and accelerated for just about five minutes. You might have also noticed that as I warmed up the chirping isolated to just my acceleration.

Hell, I know you noticed that the chirping was nearly gone by the time you were 10 minutes into your commute.

Just wanted to give you something to worry about. Have a nice day and stay warm!

Your Disco,

Silver Snoopy

Guys, my deep dive into the Land Rover Forum interweb yielded replacing the belt tensioner and idler pulleys. Am I going down the right track here?

Advice welcomed! Thanks.

 

That might fix it for awhile. But it will be back and sound different, 'cause you made it mad!

Mine will only chirp one more time, when the crusher at the salvage yard bites down hard on the engine.

 

For chirps I always start with the belt. If still chirping, I squirt wd40 on pulleys, 1 at a time. The wd40 will sometimes briefly stop
The chirp to help pinpoint the culprit.

I have no idea if this is advisable but it works for me

 

So Open the Hood when it is chirping. See if you can isolate where the chirping is occurring. If it is the front of the engine, most likely belt or pullys, if it is that try using Preston Belt Dressing on the Belt.

Now if the Chirping only occurs why it is moving, or accelerating, my guess would be dry u joint on the drive shaft, repair is to replace it. If it chrips when you are in park or stopped it is not this. But if it is this get it fix ASAP

If it only occurs when it braking then it is the brakes.

 

Honestly, the first thing I would do is pull the belt and clean it thoroughly with brake clean spray. I think all the leaks our Discos have tend to get on the belt and create squeals/chirps. Also spray brake cleaner on a rag and wipe down all the idlers and accessories. I also hosed my accessory pulleys with brake clean and scrubbed the grooves with a wire brush.

While the belt is off, spin the idlers and tensioner. If they spin too freely, you may want to replace them. Honestly, I'd replace them all because I had one fail recently with no warning and throw my belt and leave me stranded on the interstate. So I am now preemptively replacing idlers and the tensioner as a set when I think they may need it.

 

I have $10.00 on it being the a/c compressor and/or power steering bearings lol...

Just ask how I know...

After replacing the belt, tensioner, and idler pulley it's still there. I have a replacement bearing for each but have yet to put them on. Waiting (maybe naively) for a "growl" to develop. Only happens when it's cold out.

I see all of these discos around town running fine that clearly are not meticulously maintained. I'm trying that approach for awhile to give the checking account a much needed respite. May be a bad idea though lol

 

Unless you are positive it isn't the front driveshaft please get under it and see if you can induce any movement by hand. Catastrophic failure of the driveshaft shortly follows chirping that generally starts at lower speeds then goes away.

You've probably already thought of this, but just in case...

 

I recently had a chirp that was constant, sometimes worse at idle. Turned out to be the alternator, I replaced it and the chirp went away.

 

Take belt off when cold and spin things by hand. Just had to do that on my 275,000 mile Kia, idler pulley, would make a squeal for about 5 seconds at cold start. Note to Spike, takes a T50 Torx.