Winter weather squeal….

[alzeng95]

Hey all. Newbie to the forum here; second time Ranger owner and still pretty green to working on vehicles. In search of some other thoughts before having to seek shop help.

My current is a 2004 3.0 L that had an engine swap, with about 5k miles on it now. I got her at the end of spring, and on cold and/or wet mornings, was noticing this slight squealing/squeaking as she was getting warmed up. Usually went away by the time I hit my first stoplight. You can hear the “original squeal” in the first clip.


Well now that it’s coming into fall I decided to do something about it, and at the instruction of my buddy who did the engine swap, I started with a little belt ease on the serp belt. Well that made the sound a hell of a lot worse. I took the belt off, both the idler and tensioner pulleys were worn so I replaced those. All others sounded and looked fine so I wiped them and the belt down real good, to no avail. Now it doesn't matter, cold or warm, driving or idling, the worse sound is there. The second clip is the sound now. To me it sounds like it’s coming from the AC compressor. But I am starting to get beyond my knowledge set. Any help is appreciated much.



Original Squeal

New Squeal

 

[Bgunner]

Did you try to start the engine with the belt off to find out if it is a drive accessory making the noise or something else?

Not sure if your 3.0 has the cam synchronizer or not but when they start to go they sound like a belt chirping and as they go further they start to sound metal on metal. If the synchronizer goes it takes out the cam. starting the engine with the belt off will help narrow down where the noise is coming from.

 

[alzeng95]

Did you try to start the engine with the belt off to find out if it is a drive accessory making the noise or something else?

Not sure if your 3.0 has the cam synchronizer or not but when they start to go they sound like a belt chirping and as they go further they start to sound metal on metal. If the synchronizer goes it takes out the cam. starting the engine with the belt off will help narrow down where the noise is coming from.

Damn, unfortunately I didn’t think I start it up while I had the belt off. Mine does have a cam synchronizer though I had pretty much written it off due to where the sound is coming from and the fact that the sound immediately got worse when I sprayed the belt “ease”. Well that gives me a place to start.
Thanks so much for your input.