Okay my timing belt tensioner or one of the pulleys is on it's last leg. Car is making that chirping noise at idle, but goes away as I rev the engine.

Getting everything replaced here this Thursday. Waterpump, pulleys, tensioners, etc. But lately I've been getting this sound on startup. Only has happened a few times but I'm very particular with listening to my engine and hearing anything out of the ordinary.

So it's right on startup when the car just turns over. It's almost like a popping noise. Kinda sounds like what one of your coilover springs sounds like when it's getting old and pops. BTW my coilovers are on their last legs too and make this noise. It could be just the startup of the engine that makes my coilover spring make this noise but I can't be sure and wanted to see if anyone else has has this noise on startup.

Thanks,

 

Does the noise go away after the engine is warmed up?

 

Probably the tensioner? Chirping/Clicking would indicate the tensioner but a pulley/belt noise is distinct on it's own.

 

I've got a similar sound also. Mine is not a chirping but almost sounds like a light grinding/rubbing/cycling noise at start-up. Mine goes away after it's warmed up though. While it's at the dealership tomorrow, I'm going to get them to check it out.

If I get an answer from them, I'll let you know.

 

I got my car back today. They heard the noise and said it was my power steering pump. So a new one is coming, covered under warranty

 

mine kinda sounds like a washing machine

 

Mine does go away when warmed up. Squeaking sound from the belt area. What is it?

 

I once had a noise from the timing belt that sounded like rubber squeaking. It was perfectly in time with the belt as it went around but it was completely random as to when it happened, sometimes cold, sometimes warm... It went away after I changed the belt and all the hardware. I can only assume that something got on the belt, somehow, and it was squeaking as it went across one of the smooth pulleys. When I changed the belt at about 66k I could still see most of the lettering on the back of the belt.

 

my evo 9 is having the same problem. it chirps in the morning or when the car is started up. does go away when the car is warmed up. thinking idler pully but dealer said its my perrin crank pulley. don't think its thati just think the dealership is trying to not cover anything under warranty. anyone have any idler pulley issues.

 

Dead thread, but hoping to help someone out if they ever search the forums for this problem.

Grinding/scraping noise coming from belt area. Narrowed it down to the AC compressor. There is a small white sensor in between the compressor and belt pullet. If worn, that sensor will cause the attaching spined spacer to rub against the pulley and cause this horrible sound. With the car running, and the sound being made, I reached in with a long punch tool and put some pressure on the sensor to ease it very slightly away from the pulley. The sound instantly went away. Replacing this or the compressor/pulley will erase this problem, as will a zip tie around the sensor wire and an adjacent wire to keep the pressure pulled away as I had to do as a temporary fix.

The sound is easy to confuse for the power steering unit since it sits right above the compressor and can be hard to narrow down. It took 3 sets of eyes looking at the problem. The golden eyes came from a local mechanic in my building that I work with who homed in on the problem almost immediately.

Hope this helps someone in the future.