My Engine Squeaks! Is it a Pulley?
 

One quick question someone may be able to answer for me.

Whenever I start the engine from cold (more than 24Hrs) there is a loud squeaking noise that comes from the engine bay.

It never does it once the engine has been started and there are no apparent problems with the engine.

I'm not overly worried about it but was wondering if it may be the idler pulley (which is a bit rusty anyway) with a worn out bearing or maybe that the air pump is getting on a bit?

I just though I would try on here to see if anyone has had a similiar problem.

(1996 25,000 Miles)

Andrew. :confused:

common problems are the belts

second that
when it gets really bad its not gonna stop squeaking .. when it gets a bit worse pop the hood and check which of them is squeaking and have it replaced.
i wont worry though... i've seen endless cars running around town squeaking... not only FD's.

try some belt dressing, that might stop it for a temp fix.

It might be a good idea to pull the belt off and check the individual pullies to see first. I thought I had a squeaking idler pulley and after ordering a new bushing, putting it on and everything I discovered that it was my water pump making noise... in the same fashion that you describe. It didn't leak, just sounded like a squealing belt. Noisy when started from cold but nothing when it was warm.

Not on my FD but my old car had a squeaking noise, and the tensioner belt pulley seized...so i could be the bearings in one of the pulleys

Me and my buddies FD have a chirp from one of the belts that increases with RPM. It's only of the pullies and I think it's on the power steering/AC belt. I installed a shorter belt which bypassed the AC and the chirp hasn't surfaced yet.

-Jeff Ho

I had a little chirping from the idler pulley between the alternator and P/S. I spritzed a little WD40 on the bolt while the engine was running and it went away. Of course, the WD40 dried off the next day, but it's a good diagnosis technique for something with a static bolt.

its most likely the belts.... mine was like that after pressurewashing my engine.. :)

Thanks for the replies everyone.

I recently changed the belts and tried tweaking the tension which didn't seem to correct the problem (but that doesn't mean that it isn't them).

I may try changing the idler pulley (which isn't too expensive) It looks a bit rough anyway!

Andrew

On mine it was the air pump.