Hey All,

I noticed a strange noise coming from the front of my engine about a week ago and it sounded suspiciously like belts. I've only got 37k miles on my '04, but it is still four years old, so I figured the belts could have easily been dried out and in need of changing. I did so, and the noise is still there. I created the following video and posted it on YouTube. I checked the sound, and its decent quality and pretty much exactly what it sounds like.


Does anyone have any advice as to what this may be?

(And for the record, I spent all of last night searching the forums for results. My current theory from what I found searching is that it might be an idler pulley. I'm hoping someone has had this problem before and can confirm what the sound actually is.)

Thanks everyone for your help!

Dustin Earnhardt

 

I am no expert but sounds like you need a new belt & perhaps change the pullies.

 

dress your belt. Go to the parts store and get some belt dressing and im not talking about ranch or blue cheese. See if that helps and then go form there you may need a new idler pulley but dont jump to that conclusion just yet.

hope this helps

 

check your bearings?

 

zomg power steering? check fluid level / under ur car for a mess! or it might jus b the high pressure hose leaking. or clogged if u got a "power sterring flush" done. in the vid almost looks like the psf is good tough

but yes it could be an idler pulley.sounds almost like its missing the spacer on the back. Happy hunting

 

Its got new belts, so I'm sure they don't need to be replaced. Plus, it was making this same noise before I put the new ones on. I think that pretty much rules out the possibility of it being one of those.

The power steering fluid is at the appropriate level, and clean. I don't think there's anything wrong with the fluid itself, but I suppose it could be the bearing in the power steering pump.

I'm not sure what the space on the back of the idler pulley is. I'll check the factory service manual to see if I can find out. I know its never been fully taken off of the car, so I don't think I could have assembled it wrong.

In an attempt to try and find out which pulley it is, is there a problem with running the engine without the A/C belt? I have a tough time telling if its the A/C idler pulley or the power steering / alternator idler pulley. If I remove the A/C belt, I could easily determine which one it is. Is there any harm in taking one off and running without it for a short time (read: 5 minutes, tops.)?

 

no u can run it with the belts of when u run with the ALT belt of u wil get dash lights but they will turn off once you put the belt back on.

 

A noise like that is always fun to try and find.
1st how tight are your new belts?
2nd while the car is running spray some WD-40 on each pulley center and see if one of them makes the noise stop. This can be tricky as you really do not want to get the WD 40 on your belts. DO NOT use belt dressing as that is only a temporary fix.

Does the noise go away if you rev the engine?
How many miles are on your G?

My first guess is your tensioner pulley is shot.
2nd guess is the belt tensioner is not tight enough.

 

some of the belts might need retightening

 

I tried spraying white lithium grease onto the pulleys to make the noise go away. No luck. I really don't think its belt dressing, as the belts are brand new. Plus, it was making the same identical noise with the old belts, so again, I'm really not thinking its new belts. I think I'll try to take the A/C belt off and see if the noise is still there, at least that way I can narrow it down to one pulley or the other.

My car has 37k miles on it, and its a 2004. The noise does go away when I rev the engine.

Without an expensive tension gauge, is there a good general procedure for properly tightening the belts?

 

Nissan from what I recall recommends a very tight deflection in the belts. I had a similar problem with the wifes Maxima. I ended up tightening the tensioner until I had about 1/8 inch of deflection in the belt. Manual tensioners almost always have this issue as they do not compensate for stretching in the belts. Try tightening the tensioner and see what happens.

 

i can almost say with certanty that that is not the belts alone making noise. sounds very metalic/beringish 8-p..did u try runin wit the belt/belts off? i would try that asap cause it can be sumthing inside the motor who knows. maybe a bolt has backed out and is rubing against 1 of the pulleys? maybe the powersteering pump bolt the 1 directly behind the pulley. i would take the belts off and see if all the pulleys spin easy. except the crank of course. does ur ac still work siezed compressor too many options. GL wit the hunt

 

Thanks for the input guys.

This weekend my troubleshooting is going to go as follows:

1) Tighten both belts some more and see if the noise stops. If so, the problem was that I didn't have them tensioned right. From my highly scientific "finger poke" test, they feel OK, but I'll tighten it a little more and see what happens.

2) I'm going to try running it without the belt on the Alternator/Power Steering pump first and see if its making the noise. I know its hard to tell from the video, but it seems like the noise is predominantly coming from the left side of the engine.

3) If its still making the noise, the problem must reside in the A/C compressor or A/C belt tensioner. If this is the case, I'll probably just throw a new tensioner on first. I'd rather waste money replacing that than going through the cost of replacing the A/C compressor.

I'll let you know what happens. Thanks for all your input. Any additional input is still welcome!

 

This might sound stupid but is the engine oil level good?

 

that sound is your power steering pump pulley going bad. change it now or else the whole pump would eventually fail and start leaking fluid, which in turn could lead to the rack and pinion leaking and needing to be replaced, so get on it now, and dont drive the car until its fixed.