Chirping sound under the hood ???

[SSTibet]

I have started hearing a chirping noise under the hood. The sound is less audible when the car is idling but becomes more noticable when starting slowly from a gear. I am wondering if this would be from the accessory belt tensioner or from some other part of the car such as the tranny (I hope not...).

Is there more load on the belt when starting the car from 1st gear (or second)compared to when the engine is idling???

What do you folks think?

Cheers,

Selim

 

[Jeb]

I would imagine there would be more of a load on the tensioner bearings when the engine is accelerating, then the load should even out as the rpms even out.

Can you duplicate the noise with the engine in park or neutral and the car not moving?

 

[SSTibet]

Jeb,

The car is a 95 with manual tranny. I can duplicate the noise when I start moving the car in 1st, then shifting to 2nd in a silent environment. The noise is at its max when I release the clutch pedal slowly and the car starts moving forward. I can hear a slight chirping noise when the car is in neutral (engine idling). Noise at idle is intermittent and also not as loud as when the car is moving in the 1st / 2nd gears like I described above.

And when I get faster the chirping noise seems like gone away; I guess engine rumbling supresses the chirping at higher rpm's

Selim

 

[G Winter]

This could be the belt slipping , has the belt ever been replaced? Find a spray bottle and spray a little water on the belt to see if it changes the noise. Be carefull not to spray it on your optispark. Usually the tensioner pulley will click or rattle if the bearing is bad but if bearing is catching the belt may slip on the pulley and cause the chirp.If your car has the air pump it could even be that. I lean toward it being the belt.
Glenn

 

[WNH]

What I would do: I'd take the belt off and start it, let it idle.

If I don't hear the noise, it means its belt related--a pulley or the belt.

 

[Rogue]

Had a similar acting noise on my other car years ago. Had the accessory belt replaced and it fixed the noise.

 

[John Robinson]

Another Idea

Check to see if it does it only when the clutch is down. If so How many miles on the clutch.? Is it the original? Reason I ask is you might be getting warned that the clutch throwout bearing is going bad. Is there a rattle associated with this noise.:cry As suggested take the belt off. This will isolate it to either something turning by the belt. But if it is still present back to the clutch.:confused