I recently put in a new power steering pump and all seemed to be well with the world. Today the temp was -4F and when I went to start the disco, I heard what could best be described as cricket chirping noises with a cyclical tick or knock. It's coming from the front of the engine and doesn't seem to change tempo when I slightly rev the engine. I don't believe it's the ACE pump but think it's either the new PAS pump or the water pump. Below is the link to a mp3 file of the sound. Anyone else ever hear this noise before? I see no drips from the PAS pump, and power steering seems good/normal.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/0v325d8jrb...co%20noise.MP3

 

Probably if first thing in the morning it is the air injection pump if you have that pollution control system on your rover.

IF you have the plumbing near the sparkplugs that looks like gas plumbing for a stove, then you have the air injection.

The pump could be making the cricket noise.
As it did not change with RPM.

 

I have heard that same sound in other vehicles. I would guess it is a bearing or bushing. Bearing on PS Pump, Bushings/bearings on Alt. BEarings on roller tensioner pulleys. Bearing on AC Comp. Sounds to me a cold bearing... good sign that something in the future is going to FAIL....

 

Take a yard stick. Touch one end to various parts. Hold flat side against your ear. The solid stick conducts noise better than air, and you can hear all kinds of stuff going on inside each gizmo. May have to slip off belt and run for short time in driveway. Noise gone = it was turned by belt. Hand turn each item checking for roughness.

 

Well, it turns out that the tempo does change with engine revs. It was just so cold out I couldn't spend much time out there to hear it over the engine noise. I did put a 2' long drill bit on the ACE pump the other day and put it to my ear and that sounded fine. Because of the cold, I couldn't bear to take the fan shroud off and get to the water pump and PAS pump to test what they sounded like. The weather is going to warm up considerably in the next few days so I ought to be able to find the source. With temps below zero , I'd rather wait for it to warm up than start breaking brittle plastic. I'm betting it's the PAS pump as it was a little tough turning it when I took it out of the box unlike the old pump which turned freely.