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Need help with a birdchirp at front of engine??

John T. Hodgen

NAXJA Forum User
Help All,
Have any of you come across my problem-I have a birdchirp sound from the front of my motor. It gets loud and then quiets after driving until I turn on the heater fan, then it's back and causes the volt gauge to go down. If I don't turn The fan off, then I lose all my gauges with the warning light to chk gauges. The warning light/gauges won't go back to normal til I turn off the engine and restart. I don't know if it's the belt, bearings in the alternater or bearings in something else? My a/c compressed is bad but it hasn't bothered the function before. It seems to quit after it's warmed up or at highway rpms. Could it be the belt itself? Any help/ideas are greatly appreciated!!!
John T. Turning on the rear defroster will make it chirp also.
 
X2, either your belt is glazed (from slipping too much) or it's not tight enough and will be soon. Get a Krikit II belt tension gauge and set the tension - a new belt is 180 to 200 pounds of tension, used belt is 140 to 160. A belt is considered "used" after 15 minutes of operation. This tension seems really high to most, but remember that the XJ has no spring loaded idler pulley, the belt stretch is all the tension it's going to get.

A good practice is to keep a spare on hand, by the way. When I change my belt I put the old one in the package the new one came in and store it under the back seat, along with my grease gun, tube of grease, small socket set, and other random emergency gear. It really sucks to get stuck in the middle of nowhere without a functioning alternator or water pump, an engine will overheat and blow the head gasket in minutes without the pump functioning.
 
Yeah, check tension. If that passes, get a mechanics stethoscope ($20ish at any parts store) and listen near the pulleys on each component. I had a problem once with a noise sounded just like electrical whine but it was rust on the bearing race of the power steering pump, never would have found it without the stethoscope reached in behind the pulley.
 
sounds like a alt bearing... pop the hood and start it the next few times (it never does it the first time) and listen to the alt! you could always have the charging system tested aswell! usually free...
 
Does sound either belt or alternator related.

Either a loose or glazed belt is causing the "chirps" which is a classic symptom of a loose belt and subsequently does not not power the alternator consistently.

Or the alternator itself if heading south.

If belt is older or shows any evidence of glazign (shiny streaks on the belt), just replace it. I prefer Goodyear Gatorback belts.
 
kastein said:
a new belt is 180 to 200 pounds of tension, used belt is 140 to 160.
Don't remember where I got the info from (haynes, chilton fsm), but new belt tension was listed as 195 lb. and used belt tension is 170 lb.
 
Take the belt off and spin each accessory, see if there is any squeaking or grinding. Past few weeks I hat a grinding that slowly got worse, would turn so a chirp as engine got hot. I was convinced it was the alternator, so I removed the belt to get the core off. As I spun everything anyway, it was the compressor clutch bearing, not the alt. It's so tight that you could barely spin it by hand. 'New' one from the yard, all is well. Get that belt off and start spinning! And, while it's off, replace it with a Gates or Goodyear Gatorback. Nothing else! If it is the belt causing your aviary sounds, these guys will fix it.
 
Don't remember where I got the info from (haynes, chilton fsm), but new belt tension was listed as 195 lb. and used belt tension is 170 lb.
Huh, that's odd. I got my info from Joe, I guess one of em is accurate :dunno: not sure which.

Definitely also a good point on the seized alt - when my belt was loose, it was simply wearing out... it used to squeal till it got to operating temp also. My GEN light would stay illuminated till it stopped squealing because the alternator wasn't turning enough to actually generate power, and if I tried to get on the highway before it stopped squealing the voltage would drop precipitously and the transmission would heave and go into first gear. I thought I had transmission issues... Glad I tried to fix the squealing first!
 
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