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After some more research im thinking its the tensioner. I was reading some articles on how to isolate belt noise and one recommendation was if you only hear the belt noise right after the car starts or if it rained the night before, its either a stretched belt or bad tensioner. Since my belts are new, it could be the tensioner.
A few questions:
1. Is there anyway to manually adjust the tensioner or do you need to just buy a new one?
2. Whats the recommended approach for getting the fan off? Ive seen some videos using a huge wrench, which looked like a dealer tool.
I think I’ve definetly isolated this to a bad belt tensioner. It only squeaks when it rains or there is a lot of morning dew after a cold night. In this case seems like it might be the tensioner spring itself, not a bad bearing.
Well I replaced the secondary tensioner and that didnt solve it. The noise seems like its coming from the center left of the belt area, ie more toward the passenger side, which is why I replaced the secondary tensioner first. I dont think its the primary tensioner since thats on the drivers side. Is there a pulley on the passenger side, or are any accessories bearings prone to squeal on cold starts for 30-60 seconds???
This one is really pissing me off as its gone so quickly its hard to track down.
After researching more im thinking its the idler pulley. Its in he right vicinity and I found a tech bulletin on "chirp noise on engine cold start - repair procedure". It says: "On vehicles equipped with the 4.2L / 4.4L V8 engine, a 'chirp' noise on engine cold start heard coming from the front end accessory drive (FEAD) belt may be due to the belt 'wandering' on the idler pulley." Sounds spot on however it states its for 2005-2007 cars and mine is a 2009.
It also mentions some engines need to have the fan pulley bracket ground down to fit the new pulley.
Well this sucks. The mystery continues. Replaced the belts last year. Seemed better but then came back. Replaced the secondary tensioner. No change. Next bet was the idler pulley. Replaced it yesterday and found the 2009 already has the updated pulley (mentioned in the tech bulletin) and the bearings were fine. Replaced it anyway. While I was in there I spun all the other pulleys and the primary tensioner bearing ran free, so I replaced that too. Thought I licked it and then came out this morning and it was still make a slight chirp for 30 seconds, albeit quieter than usual. That may just be because the temp was warmer last night.
Anyway, this sucks. One minor win is the engine is a bit quieter with all the new pulleys.
Since the chirp is coming from the center-left its either got to be the alternator or whatever pump is above the fan.
I've had a high pitched whirring/shriek sound (albeit different than yours) in cold weather coming from what I think is my alternator for a while now. Happens only above 2500 rpm and only for the first minute or so of driving. I also replaced belts/pulleys with no impact (also swapped the engine, so I know it's an accessory). I'm guessing it is coming from the alternator, so it's possible yours is from the alternator as well.
Replaced the alternator today and lets hope that solves this. This saga has been going on far too long.
Installation was a pain in the ***. You need to raise the suspension, remove the access panel in the passenger footwell, take off the belt, remove 3 bolts then fiddle with the cables. Embarrassingly enough I missed the 3rd bolt on the alternator and removed one from the engine block instead. I reached above the alternator and found a bolt and assumed that was it. I was wondering why they would have 2 13mm bolts and 1 10mm.
Installing the cables was the worst part. You need to plug the connector back in before you bolt on the alternator. Almost dropped the alternator on my face a few times.
11-11-2017, 08:45 AM
