Squealling Sound from Front of Engine When Its Cold

[Toystoretom]

Re: Squealling Sound from From of Engine When Its Cold

My car had similar symptoms, mostly chirping when first started when cold.

Looking at the belt I found it had many small cracks and was glazed.

I bought a Gates replacement for $30. It is an absolute b*tch to replace it. Anyone who thinks you can just pop one of these on has never done it. You will find that after you remove the air intake and the engine cover you can barely get your hands past the fan shroud, and you cant' reach down to some of the drive pulleys and have to do it by remote control.

You will also find the you can't get the old belt out or the new belt in because it is trapped in behind the tensioner arm. You can cut the old belt and pull that out, but the new belt won't squeeze back in, so you must (at least) loosen the bolt that secures the tensioner assembly to the engine front cover so you can pull the tensioner away for clearance. That happens to be behind some coolant hoses, how nice.

You had better draw yourself a belt routing diagram before you start, you will never figure it out afterwards if you don't.

The good news is, after sacrificing my hands and arms, the new belt cured the problem.

Drive belts are considered a wear item by most extended warranties (like brake pads) so you may want to check to see if its covered.

[Peterfurlan]

Re: Squealling Sound from From of Engine When Its Cold

The Bird is in the shop for 5 days to order a pully. Seems that the bearing in one of the belt pulleys is strting to go bad. So, under warranty, they are changing it out. Will know more when I pick up Cashmere in a few days.

thanks

CV Cashmere

I really don't think a bad bearing is going to sound any better as the engine
warms up. As a kid I worked in gas station the cure for a squealing belt was
a solution of soapy water applied with a big swab while the engine was running. If that didn't work we did the same thing using brake fluid, that
worked ninety-nine percent of the time.
If your going to try and clean the belt yourself the engine must be running
if you have a problem with that take it to a garage.

[BITWTB]

Re: Squealling Sound from From of Engine When Its Cold

Have you seen your cat, lately?

[tbird05cel]

Re: Squealling Sound from From of Engine When Its Cold

LOL, Wallaby! That's funny! Yes, my cat was curled up next to me when I woke up this morning.

Charles

[CVCashmere]

Re: Squealling Sound from From of Engine When Its Cold

Have you seen your cat, lately?

Meow!

[Treken]

Re: Squealling Sound from Front of Engine When Its Cold

Just another thing to check before replacing the belt is steering fluid...

I had the Squealling Sound from Front of Engine When Its Cold thinglast spring and took it in to the Ford Dealer for a new belt and when picked up they said all I needed was some Steering fluid. He also said after 8 years and to only go down as much as it did is nothing to worry about...

Still no noise and still the same old belt...

[mike6187]

Re: Squealling Sound from Front of Engine When Its Cold

I also experienced that similar squealing sound from my engine when its cold and i ended up buying some engine & transmission components like oil cooler lines, hydraulic clutch lines, and a lot more. I can no longer what my mechanic did to fix it.

[DavidA]

Re: Squealling Sound from Front of Engine When Its Cold

It is interesting what Steve said in post 8 on this thread. Just to make further point, many of these cars are 9 years old now and none are getting any younger. This is starting to get into OLD CAR territory. Even the newest TBirds are well over 5 years old. Most people trade their cars every 3-5 years because of reliability problems.

Because of the unique "value" of these cars, (don't mean $$$ value), many are still owned by their original purchasers, while others are owned by enthusiasts. Most on this board qualify under these headings.

From now onwards, as the cars get older, repairs will become more frequent and parts less available. More and more will become show queens and casual drivers and fewer will be daily drivers.

Our planned trip to the US Northwest next summer will probably be the last "LONG" trip we take in the 2002 TBird as reliability really starts to become an issue, Driving a 10 year old car over 6000+ on a single trip without a mechanical problem would be amazing, and there will probably be 5 Tbirds, thus compounding the possibility of breakdown.

I know cars are much better than any that have gone before, more reliable and better constructed, safer, etc., but at 10 years and over 100,000 miles ... how much can we expect from them?

Start thinking "collector car" and realize that we need to know a little about wrenching on a car to keep these going without breaking the bank.

[GHerndon]

Re: Squealling Sound from Front of Engine When Its Cold

I had the same symptom with my 2004. I had to replace the belt tensioner.

[steelblue5505]

Re: Squealling Sound from Front of Engine When Its Cold

DavidA
I sent you a PM regarding your comments in post #23.

[DavidA]

Re: Squealling Sound from Front of Engine When Its Cold

Mike: I sent you a reply PM. Appreciate it and thank you.

[BIRD 42]

Re: Squealling Sound from Front of Engine When Its Cold

Just replaced the tensioner and belt. Would only squeal during start-up and it had to be cold, down below 40 degrees, and was not an every time style of problem.. OK that is cold for me. Service Manager told me there is a service note out about the noise during cold operation. Have extended warranty BUT the pully-tensioner was ~ $45.00 and I have a $100.00 deductible. Of course they do not cover the belt itself.

Did not make the noise when I started the car, only when I put it into gear, and then only for about 15 to 20 seconds. Time to back out of the drive and go about one house, then it would quit. The belt looked OK and did not squeal at any other time.

Also had to replace the three heater hoses, from the temperature control module to the driver and passenger heaters. Had to replace the module last spring. Anti-freeze under the car. This is in addition to replacing the upper radiator hose this summer.

There are some things I have learned at my age that it is cheaper - less expensive - to have some one that has the tools and knows what they are doing before I screw it up With my luck I would have gotten the belt off and not been able to get the new one on.

Still love the bird however.

[jerrym3]

Re: Squealling Sound from Front of Engine When Its Cold

David A, to a certain extent, I can "wrench" my 64 Galaxie. In fact, I find it enjoyable.

Wish I could, but I can't wrench my retro.

True, cars last longer. Back in the 60's, we wouldn't touch a car with 60,000 miles, and we'd do most repairs in the driveway.

But, today's cars have mechanics that the average guy can't handle. It's getting to the point that there's a sensor to manage the other sensors.

[Rondor]

Re: Squealling Sound from Front of Engine When Its Cold

This is a common problem in all Fords, andI have had a bunch. The platic tensioner in most of them is short lived. I have grown to like serpentine belts and they are easier to change. Re; keeping an older bird going, I trafed a 560 SL Benz for mine. Every town has a few Ford mechanics and every patrs store has parts. Try traveling in a Benz. I remeber the old flat head boys saying that they had to get somebody to work on their new Galaxies and Mustangs. It's all relevant

[5bird7]

Re: Squealling Sound from Front of Engine When Its Cold

Not sure where I saw this link or was directed to search for it but...

There is a free tool that you can order off the internet from Gates

http://www.gatesprograms.com/beltwear