What is this chirping noise from my 2002 7.3?

The serpentine belt is relatively new. Could it be one of the bearings? (power steering pump is newish). Water pump is original. Belt tensioner is new.

Truck has 217k miles.

 

If i was a bet'n man..id place my wad on the alternatir pulley. From the video, the nuts not turning..

 

Timmy, the alternator has like 5000 miles on it...

Im thinking its the water pump or the idler.

 

Timmy, the alternator nut not appearing to turn in the video is more likely an anomaly of the revolutions of the alternator pulley versus the "time code" of the video in frames per second. The synchronization can often make rotating things appear either still or to move at an abnormal speed that isn't really real.

Lex, I had a similar sound, only really audible at idle. I replaced all of the idler pulleys (upper and lower in the case of dual alternators), the belt tensioner, BOTH alternators, the belt, and the water pump pulley.... and the noise didn't go away. Now I'm replacing the water pump itself. Not sure what to tell ya, but it ain't right, and it ain't how it sounded 18 years ago, when I drove the truck home from the dealer.

I've used a stethoscope, as well as radio transmitting 6 channel "Chassis Ears" (as described in Ford's Service Manual for NVH), and I have not been successful in isolating the source of the chirp. Hence, I'm following this thread, and your journey.

 

OMG you've changed it all! I hav the water pump and idler left to rule out.

BTW I have the Chassis Ears as well. Comes in handy from time to time.

Maybe it is the water pump? I am due for one but it starting to get cold...maybe I can change mine next weekend if weather holds. Id also do the idler pulley.

Did you change the pulley or just the bearing on the idler? Do you know the bearing part #?

 

 

Carefully spray wd40 on one place at a time until the noise goes away.

Not a cure, just a tool to find the source.

 

You mean into each bearing? I'm assuming it's a bearing.

 

WD40 can't get into a bearing, unless the seal is toast. I'd avoid using WD or any oils. My buddy did that and we had to change the belt twice and scrub the pulleys clean, it was a pain in the butt.

With the engine idling pour a little water on the belt, if the chirp changes it's belt slippage. If no change, take the belt off and fire it up, that'll tell you for sure if it is or isn't a belt driven object causing it. I can't isolate the noise from the engine noise well enough to figure it out, but I don't think it's belt/accessory related. Maybe an exhaust leak? Hopefully not something worse. My motorhome developed a low RPM chirp that wasn't typical of a belt/accessory, I eventually discovered the burnt exhaust valve.

 

It worked finding my bad idler. Your results may vary.

 

 

I changed the entire idlers. I wanted the spare pulley wheels, into which I will press out and press in new bearings in the future.

I'm not sure that it is cheaper to change the entire idler versus just buying the bearings....as buying the entire Motorcraft pulley, even at a significant employee price discount for Ford parts... was certainly more expensive than ordering bearings online. The NTN bearings in the Motorcraft idlers were made in Canada.

The type of bearing in the idler is a single row deep groove radial ball bearing with a unilateral double lip edge contact rubber seal that has in ID of 17mm, an OD of 40mm, and a width of 12mm, and is rated for a 2,160 lb dynamic load, and a 1,030 lb static load. That specification reduces to bearing code trade number 6203LU. If I were to order just the bearings, I'd probably look for 6203LLU, for a bilateral double lip contact seal, to keep even more dust out.

The edges of the contact type double lip seals are made of two lips (no surprise there), an inner lip and an outer lip. The inner lip contacts the inner ring sealing surface. Then there is a slight gap between the inner ring and the outer lip, which makes it so that even if the inner lip wears away from friction, the outer lip can constrict around the inner ring to maintain the sealing effect. Not wishing to disturb or destroy these delicate lip flanges by "popping out" the seal, I have in the past used grease needles (and I do mean needles, not narrow wands) to restore lubrication to these bearings. Unlike the Torrington bearing in the front wheel hubs, where the effort pays off, I'd say this technique is not worth the effort in these idler bearings, given the relatively easy access and low cost of replacement.

But here is a photo of my former foolishness anyway...




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I just did my water pump a month ago and that's how it was sounding just before it started leaking.

 

 

Unfortunately, the "made" can be misinterpreted since not knowing the origin of said part, in this case, a "bearing". Besides, where its "created/assembled"(notice i didnt say "made"), what type of material is the retaining cage made out of or how many ***** incapsulated in the cage and/or are they ceramic or sterl *****...etc. Going back to "made", i know of how a "said" bearing was created/assembled with parts shipped to another country, why, because at the time it was 3.00hr labor in Singapore. Material used to create the bearing, all came from USA...i'll only buy 1 name bearing/part if time allows. Ina pinch, if oreillys tensioner gets me home, oreillys getn my cheese.