2.3L Engine chirping noise

[jermeyg]

Hey guys I am new to the forum but have had my ranger for a quite some time. I have a 1995 Ranger with 161,000 miles on it. I am the second owner and have had it since about 2004 with 100,000 miles on it.

Over the past few weeks I have been having this strange noise coming from the engine compartment while driving down the highway. The noise would change in sound and click on and off. When at idle there would be no issues so I had no way to really reproduce the problem.

Fast forward to this week and now the problem has been happening at idle. I took it to Ford since I was having pinpointing the problem. They told me its the idler pulley and serpentine belt. No problem. I took it back home and replace the items and the problem is still there.

I took a video of the issue and was hoping that you guys had any ideas of what the source of my issue might be. Thanks for any help!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2mrpdbhy9w

 

[chilsam]

Bearing

You have a bad bearing somewhere,ac compresser,power steering or alt Im thinkin ac???

 

[jermeyg]

You have a bad bearing somewhere,ac compresser,power steering or alt Im thinkin ac???

Hmm, interesting. I spun each one of them when I had the serpentine belt out and didn't notice any rough bearings. I will try again though and report back. If it is the AC can I just change out the bearings or clutch? I might have to do some research here.

 

[Bryan22]

Might want to check the tensioner out too.

 

[jermeyg]

Update

Okay guys, thought I would give an update. I started the disassembly to change out the tensioner pulley thing maybe it was the culprit. So I got that thing off and the bearing didn't look bad. It spun smooth with little drag.

I then focused on check the compressor, power steering etc. All of them seem to spin just fine. I got to the fan clutch and notice a squeak. I then took the fan clutch, shroud and fan off. I spun the water pump shaft and it was making a squeak noise. It had some play in it by not a major amount.

Figured I would change the pump out since its the only one that has any noise. Well to get the pump off my manual said take the timing cover off and to get that off you need to pull the compressor and power steering bracket off. At this point I am close to a full blown timing belt replacement. So I figured well I will just do that.

Now I have most of everthing disassembled. Just have to get the crackshaft hub off. I am not sure how I am going to get this bad boy off. I read about using a pulley or just hammering on it from behind. Its only got the one bolt in the middle as well.

I got new plugs, wires, thermostat housing gasket, timing belt and water pump. I think I am prepared with parts, I have to find a jaw puller for the hub though. I also read some discussion on using a special tool for the timing belt. Figure I would just wing and see how it goes.

Any thoughts or advice I would appreciate it. Thanks!

 

[jermeyg]

Need Help!

Guys, I got the old timing belt off tonight and put a new one on. I left the crankshaft at TC and had both sprockets lined up. I took the old belt off and put the new one on.

After tightening up the tensioner assembly and the crankshaft I decided to put the timing belt cover on and proceed. After having the cover in I checked once more to see if the two sprockets were lined up.

Here's the problem, I couldn't see them. I took the timing belt cover off and noticed that both sprocket were now out of sync with the crankshaft. Both are equally off about one tooth.

Should I take the timing belt off and line the sprockets up with the marks? I am assuming that is what I need to do but wanted to make sure. I can't see the TC changing since its keyed so I think both sprockets need to be aligned.

Please let me know your thoughts and thanks!

 

[tomw]

Many times the 'slack' in the belt will be in the wrong place.... Figures. Take the cover off and re-time the belt, working from the crankshaft pulley to the aux to the cam, and try to get it 'snug' by hand on those spans, getting all the 'slack' on the tensioner side of the array. Once you have the pulleys in place, the slack all on the 'down' side, release the tensioner and then tighten it in place. Rotate the crankshaft two times and check the marks again. If it checks out, put the cover back in place, and re-attach all the accessories you had to dislodge...
Set the timing, and take a break.
tom

 

[jermeyg]

Many times the 'slack' in the belt will be in the wrong place.... Figures. Take the cover off and re-time the belt, working from the crankshaft pulley to the aux to the cam, and try to get it 'snug' by hand on those spans, getting all the 'slack' on the tensioner side of the array. Once you have the pulleys in place, the slack all on the 'down' side, release the tensioner and then tighten it in place. Rotate the crankshaft two times and check the marks again. If it checks out, put the cover back in place, and re-attach all the accessories you had to dislodge...
Set the timing, and take a break.
tom

Okay thanks for the feedback. I just got everything back together and it started up but there is a little tick noise. Does that mean my timing is off ? Sucks!

 

[jermeyg]

Update, I did some more reading and saw that it might not be oil getting up to the valves. So I let it run for a bit longer and sure enough it runs just like new The source of the chirping noise was the water pump in combination of a bad fan clutch. All is well now with that.

I still have a couple minor issues with the A/C compressor click on and off rapidly and no heat but hopefully I can find some information on the forum. Thanks a lot for the help! Consider this chirping noise solved!