Screeching Sound Coming From Engine Bay

[Art Garcia]

Recently I have experienced a loud screeching sound coming from the engine at start it when its cold. It will then go away or just faint when engine starts to warm up. Sometimes its still pretty loud when driving, during acceleration it gets louder and continues to screech while at idle.



I believe i might have read on here before that its the tensioner? I listened closely and its coming from that part. Is it a rather inexpensive item from ford or somewhat expensive? How about labor?



I need help determining this noise because the sound is loud and annoying and makes the ST sound like a clunker. Thank you in advance for your input.



[Broken External Image]:

 

[Craig Martin 2]

If I remember right my brother told me it was about 50 bucks his price from the dealer. This is also Canadian mind you. So it's not too bad for price. As for getting it installed it is fairly easy to do yourself, save yourself some cash doing it that way.

 

[Tom Schindler]

That is not the tensioner or the idler. If the squeak is coming from there, I think the belt needs replaced. The idler is the smooth pulley right under the intake tube and the tnsioner is further down in front of the engine.





Tom

 

[Art Garcia]

I did some research and came to the realization that that isnt the tensioner. So Caymen, you are correct. Do you really think my belt is producing that loud screeching sound?

 

[Bill Koonce]

IIRC the tensioner and/or idler for serpentine belts do wear out from time to time. I had a similar issue with a 4.6 motor. When I finally got around to fixing it, the repair guy (and online help) said to replace them all at once because if one goes bad it wears down the others. The cost to have it done was surprisingly cheap; well worth having it all done at once.

 

[Jerry Gerner 2]

Like Caymen said it could be the belt or it could be the one of the pulleys has condensation in them and makes it squel every so often till it's warmed up. The bearings in one of the pulleys could be bad as well. Check the belt for wear and slack and you can test the pulleys by removing the belt and spooning them by hand. Check for play in the pulleys front to back and for any resistance.

 

[Les]

Do you really think my belt is producing that loud screeching sound?

yes...

 

[Tom Schindler]

If you are going to replace one item, spend the money and replace the tensioner, idler, and belt.



Cheap insurance and not much "extra work" to do all three.



You will be glad you did.





Tom

 

[Art Garcia]

would this problem correlated with a water pump leaking antifreeze

 

[Tom Schindler]

It is possible coolant got onto the belt.



Did you replace a waterpump, but use the same belt?





Tom

 

[TRACket Paul]

As Caymen indicated, coolant residue on the belt can cause your problem. First try rinsing the groove side of the belt with clean water. If that doesn't help then replace the belt. I don't think it's the tensioner or the idler.

 

[Art Garcia]

well no more than a year ago, we replace the water pump. to save some cash my mom got her friend to do it. he only replace the water pump and used silicone to seal it instead of a gasket. it is now leaking antifreeze from there and basically because of the fan, it ts splashed all over the front of the engine. i warmed up my truck today. and took a nice look around and theres plenty of antifreeze everywhere and some of the screeching sound seemed to be coming from my tensioner.



this coming week i am going to send to the dealer to repair that problem. shoot i bother replacing the belt and the idler and tensioner?

 

[Ed C]

If you are going to replace one item, spend the money and replace the tensioner, idler, and belt.



Cheap insurance and not much "extra work" to do all three.

+1.



If you don't want to spend the money do at least the idler and belt. I had an idler fail on me. I noticed the squealing in the morning and it fell apart the same day. It shredded the belt and left me stranded. Easy fix but unnecessary pain. I replace the idler every time I replace the belt now...

 

[Todd Z]

if Its a loud constant squeal make sure nothing is locking up and you have a bad or broken pump or something else..



Todd Z

 

[Art Garcia]

its not constant. just random times.

 

[Gavin Allan]

Got a cat in there?



Dad got the family cat pretty good one morning when he started his truck. Cat ripped the v-belts off the pulleys, and there was quite a mess under the hood from cat parts. Funny thing was it didn't quite do the cat in. Dad had to finish the job when he finally caught the remaining mess... :throwup:



He didn't want to deal with trying to put the belts on. It was just easier to pay the tow fee to have it towed 20 miles to the dealer for a little steam cleaning and replacement belts.

 

[Jim Johnson]

My ST has been doing the same thing in cold weather since it was new, almost 11 years ago. The sound seems to be louder or softer depending on the engine temperature and throttle position. In my case, it is NOT the belt or tensioner, but seems to be something resonating in the air intake system. My Lightning does the same thing, although less than half as often. In both cases, the noise goes away quickly once the engine begins to warm up.