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squeaking/chirping noise, not coming from pulleys?

  • Thread starter Thread starter meg224
  • Start date Start date Jun 24, 2009
M

meg224

New Member
Jun 24, 2009
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Jun 24, 2009
#1
  • Jun 24, 2009
  • #1
Well I could say I'm not car illiterate but I'm no mechanic, I need some guidance or suggestions for my 1998 3.8L stang. I recently drove down from Pennsylvania to Alabama for the summer, for an internship for school. For the past month I noticed a squeaking / chirping noise getting louder and louder. This is completely random. It goes from a soft chirp to a really high pitched; it's just all over the place. There is no constant squeak.

It does not matter if the engine is cool/hot, a/c is on/off, at idle or going 60mph. I cannot link this obnoxious squeaking noise to anything. Along with this I noticed missing antifreeze. I found that to be a weep hole on the water pump, so that was already replaced, so it had nothing to do with that, because it still squeaks/chirps as it did before it was replaced. The belt is like new and in really good condition, checked for glazing and just wear and cracking. The power steering fluid was also checked, no problems with that.

I had the belt off to check the pulleys, thinking most likely it would be the tensioner or the idler, and it's not. I work at a mine site, and I had a handful of mechanics looking at my car and they are just as stumped as I was. We used the whole stick/stethoscope thing, and what we KIND of could hear, is the squeaking noise coming from the distributor area. Can this be it? Has anyone ever heard of this?

I'm not sure what else to do.

Any help or suggestions greatly appreciated
 

rock4451

20+ Year Stangneter
Nov 30, 2004
12
2
29
New Baden, IL
Jun 24, 2009
#2
  • Jun 24, 2009
  • #2
i know how frustrated you must be. drove my car around for a week with squeaking under my hood, so i WD40'd the crap out of all my pulleys and tensioner, squeak went away and came back about a minute later. finally 4 days later when i was holding the r's at about 4k my dad told me to shut off the engine. took a look and the smog pump pulley was froze
 

FrankenStang

Now, give me a damn CT!
15 Year Member
Apr 16, 2005
4,461
70
129
Florence, Az
Jun 24, 2009
#3
  • Jun 24, 2009
  • #3
Year? Auto or manual?

Need to know more about the car.
 

rock4451

20+ Year Stangneter
Nov 30, 2004
12
2
29
New Baden, IL
Jun 24, 2009
#4
  • Jun 24, 2009
  • #4
didnt mean to cut that off so early, but anyway i have no idea how my belt didnt snap on me after driving it (and beating on it, of course) for about a week. now i just bypassed it with a shorter belt bc in illinois we dont have emissions inspections. coming from the distributor? i have never heard of that. best of luck
 
M

meg224

New Member
Jun 24, 2009
3
0
0
Jun 24, 2009
#5
  • Jun 24, 2009
  • #5
rock4451 said:
i know how frustrated you must be. drove my car around for a week with squeaking under my hood, so i WD40'd the crap out of all my pulleys and tensioner, squeak went away and came back about a minute later. finally 4 days later when i was holding the r's at about 4k my dad told me to shut off the engine. took a look and the smog pump pulley was froze
Click to expand...

hm well its something else I could look at. All I know its soooo annoying and I wish it was easier to pinpoint
 
M

meg224

New Member
Jun 24, 2009
3
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Jun 24, 2009
#6
  • Jun 24, 2009
  • #6
~FrankenStang~ said:
Year? Auto or manual?

Need to know more about the car.
Click to expand...


1998 3.8L Auto
 

MustangLX-5.0

Founding Member
Dec 2, 2000
856
7
38
Lehigh Acres Fla.
Jun 27, 2009
#7
  • Jun 27, 2009
  • #7
In the distributor area? Just FYI , 3.8 Mustangs don't use distributors. Only the 94-95 5.0's have them. V6's have EDIS coil packs. I will assume you were referring to the coil pack (it's the rectangular shaped device with the plug wires attached.). The noise wouldn't come directly from the coil pack since there are no moving parts. Items in the coil pack area that may squeak, chirp or squeal when damaged or worn out... AC compressor, compressor clutch, Camshaft synchronizer (plugged in behind water pump on timing chain cover) , tensioner pulley (it may not create a noise when spun freely but start when a load is applied) , and last, Idle air control sensor. IAC, is located on the throttle body on the very top. It's rare for it to squeak, but it does have a small motor with a very fine pinion gear and a plunger that are controlled by the PCM. I've heard the thing squeak on several occasions untill I removed it and cleaned the garbage out and sprayed lube in it.

Oh and one other thing, The 3.8's don't have smog pumps. I know a couple model years have electronic smog pumps but not the belt driven pumps that are found on 5.0L mustangs.
 
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