My 92 xj just started making this strange cherp. It doesn't start immediately after I turn the car on. Sometimes it doesn't do it at all or it will start after I've been driving for a few minutes. I found a video on youtube that has the same type of noise. It says its the power steering bearing but I would think the noise would be constant or start right after I turn the car on.


Thats the noise^

Thanks,
Jeremy.

 

Instead of guessing you can use a length of heater hose like a stethoscope and isolate exactly where the noise originates.

 

Your belt could just not be tight enough. The belts on our 4.0's have to be insanely tight. To check the pulley, take the belt off and manually spin all the pulleys by hand and make sure that they all spin freely. Check them all for any play. The idler pulley is one that I see goes out a lot. Also, check your harmonic balancer. They are a two piece design separated by rubber. When it starts to fail, the two halves can get out of allignment and it doesn't take much at all to make the belt squeak or shred (ask me how I know).