Well, the damage is done now, ha, ha.

I repl the belt and tensioner pulley for good measure, noise is gone now.
Sorry for the hijack.

 

sooo did you ever find what the problem was? Mine is making the same sound. It's a high pitched chirp, almost sounds like a bird is in the car with you, sometimes it makes the sound sometimes it doesnt. It doesn't seem to matter whether its hot or cold outside or the engine temp, but it does increase in frequency as RPM's increase. I've just replaced the water pump, cuz it was bad, new belt, and the idler puller was replaced 2 years ago but theres no play there so I don't think its the idler pulley. My mechanic thinks its the fan clutch. There is a slight wobble in the fan, but not the pulley it's connected to, and the belt tends to go crazy in that area. I just bought a new fan clutch but I don't want to put it on then realize I wasted money.

Has anyone been able to solve this problem by replacing the fan clutch?

 

In my case, I tried replacing a bunch of stuff and nothing worked. I finally wised up and knew I had to determine wether it was my belt or a bearing.

I determined the problem was my belt because I could put something wet on the belt and the chirping would stop. After experimenting with new belts and different belt tensions to no avail, I determined that there was a misalignment somewhere causing my belt to chirp as it seats in the Harmonic balancer pulley.

Instead of replacing the pulley right away, I temporarily treated my belt with some ArmorAll tire shine. I know this sounds stupid, but it worked! No more chirping!

When I first sprayed it on, yes, the belt slipped. But in just a few revolutions the liquid spread itself out over the surface of the belt and has performed perfect.

Chances are, if you spray something wet on your belt and it still chirps, it's probably a bearing somewhere going bad.

Hope this helps!

 

throw-out or thrust bearing... if its a manual tranny... does it stop when you put the shifter in neutral?

 

My 'Extreme Chirping Sound' was bad u-joints in my front drive shaft. Worth a look.

 

No it still makes the chirp while in neutral. I tightened the belt and the chirp persisted. Then I tried the water trick while the car was running and the chirp went away for a few seconds then returned. I guess it may help to mention that I first noticed the chirp after I replaced the water pump, I had to get a new belt because the old one was destroyed. When i first noticed the noise it was almost inaudible unless the hood was propped and even then it barely happened, and this was after the initial squealing of a new belt. Also it didn't do it every single time I ran the car, but more often than not. That was about a month ago. Since then it has become progressively worse in volume and frequency. Could anyone explain how a bad idler pulley looks/feels/sounds?

 

I actually resorted to a similar, but equally effective tactic - I put a bit of dielectric grease on the belt. This was after I replaced the idler pulley and checked the bearings in the WP, PS, etc and the chirp persisted.

I've actually heard the opposite - that if it's a bearing, the chirp would not be affected by wetting the belt and that it would indicate more of a belt friction issue

 

With the belt off, spin the idler pulley by hand. If you feel any "unsmooth" resistance, or hear some grinding, replace it. They're pretty inexpensive (~$20) and easy to replace, so you may just want to replace it anyhow.

 

Ok good news, I got the fan clutch off and the chirp was gone. Bad news: the Imperial brand replacement fan clutch wouldn't fit unless I took the radiator out, and I kinda squeezed the old one out to begin with and did a little damage to the radiator. Well, I went to put the old one back on (like an idiot cuz I could have left the fan clutch off and driven up to the parts store to get the torax bit I needed) and I sprang a small leak in the radiator. Only a small leak when its running so hopefully some stop leak will fix it, but thats another story.

In summary the source of my chirp was a bad fan clutch. You'll be able to tell its bad because the metal radiator fan will wobble while spinning and you'll be able to wobble it with your hand as well; it should be tight. TAKE THE RADIATOR OUT, YOUR GOING TO DAMAGE IT. You might not spring a leak, but its so close you will damage your radiator. Hope this helps anyone else with their chirp. Also, checking the tightness of your belt is always a good place to start, they stretch out over time.

Thanks for the help!

 

Glad you got it worked out! Also glad you reported back with your solution, too many guys ask for help and then disappear, which does not good for the next guy.

 

Glad you got 'er fixed Spider! Thanks for replying with your solution. I can only imagine that sooner or later, we'll all have to eventually replace our fan clutches.

 

Well my 1991 has the same sound, turned out to be the distributor. I pulled it out and you can hardly turn it in spots and in some spots it is free but would squeak like what I was hearing. so you might check the distributor it's self...I thought it was the Idler Pulley, and it wasn't. Might remove the serpentine belt completly, and start her up, if you still hear it, it is the distrib. ( or something insode the motor) since nothing else is turning you had eliminated them....just a thought.