Mike L

Hello All! My truck started to make a very loud chirping sound on start up that eventually faded after the initial few minutes of running. Lately the chirp is becoming more and more prevalent at every start up and now I can occasionally detect it after many minutes of driving while sitting idle at a traffic light. I am pretty sure that there is a bearing starting to fade on me and I can't identify which one. Water pump, belt tightener/idler, alternator? I have tried to "listen" to the engine after start up and with all of the racket from the valve train it makes it difficult to pin the noise to one specific component.

In the collective wisdom and experience of this forum, what is the general thoughts and experience on which component is most likely imminent for failure. The Beast has 265,000kms (165K miles) on it.

Thanks for reading

Mike

jrs_dodge_diesel

A mechanic's stethoscope comes in handy for tracking down noises like this.

Belt tension has been a frequent topic on this forum and is typically the cheapest/easiest component to replace.

How old is your belt? Reason I ask is I will get an occasional chirp/squeal if it is really humid out on start up. The older the belt for me, the more this happens on my truck.

DIESELWRKS

takes like 2 min to remove the belt.
do this and then you can free spin everything to see what is rough to spin.

I dont like the spray trick that some do with spray a little bit of water on one pulley at start up to see if that makes the sound go away. if you spray to much then its all over the belt and could put the fluid on another pulley and then you would not know which is bad.
I know my bearing/pulley on the A/C compress was bad and would squeel and groan so bad I put a NON AC belt on truck until i was able to save up to replace and fix the A/C system.

belts can cause this noise too.
best bet for peace of mind is to pull belt and feel each bearing. if you are happy with how they feel and have no play in the shaft then its likely the belt.

Mike L

Hi Guys! Thanks for the excellent suggestions. I will give your ideas a shot on my next days off next week. Good stuff and I'll update the thread with findings.

Cheers!

Mike

KATOOM

Most likely the serpentine tensioner, but you can isolate the A/C compressor clutch bearing by simply turning the A/C on. If it stops when the compressor engages then its not the compressor clutch bearing.

VADSLRAM

I get a chirp from the belt occasionally on startup and more often on shut down. It's not mechanical it actually the belt slipping a bit. I confirmed with a squirt bottle of water.
Right now I have the wrench and a new belt in the cab but I'm too dang lazy(and cheap) to switch the old one out until it gets worse.

KATOOM

Its not so much a "worn" belt as much as its just characteristic of some serpentine belts and how these engines shut down. Better quality belts will stop the chirp.

DIESELWRKS

Goodyear gatorback belt I believe its called. No belt chirp. Also genos sells the HD green belt cant remember what brand.

Mike L

Hi All! Thanks for reading and replying to this thread. Finally a couple of days off where I can work on this chirping thing. I put a Goodyear Gatorback on about three, maybe four years ago. My Beasts motor stopped chirping on shut down shortly after I bought it, about six years ago, after I had taken the belt off to work on another issue. It will still chirp on shutdown after a hard tow, when the motor has been working hard and the motor temp is up a bit. The loud chirp that he makes now is nothing like the shutdown chirp that the 5.9 traditionally is heard to make. I'll post back with my findings as soon as I can get to this job.

Cheers!

Mike

jrs_dodge_diesel

Next time you have the belt off, or change the belt, do this old trick:

Take some light grit sandpaper or emory cloth and lightly rough up the pulley surfaces. The pulleys function solely on belt friction, and over time the pulley surfaces get smooth/glazed and the belt doesn't get as good a grip as it goes around as it used to.

This helps out a lot by not allowing the the belt to slip and really helps eliminate the shutdown chirp.