1-2 second high pitch noise after cold start MY07 Impreza

Zheiko

Zheiko

Octane Boostaholics
Hey,

So here goes another one, and this one is weird to me. So when I start on my car when cold, I get few seconds very high pitch noise, which goes actually on as well when I accelerate a bit. Only at the very beginning and stuff.

My knowledge is very limited, but so far what I could find on net was that it indicates tensioner pulleys being worn out. This is however weird, as the car has 140k km driven, and the belt was changed at 94k kms, which means only roughly 50k km was driven on this Timing belt/set. Now question is, if the work was done properly, or if they changed everything there. I know that snapping belt or loosing the pulley may end up REALLY bad for the engine, and I do not wanna get there, so what can I do to get this checked? I dont want to drive the car to place where they tell me its ok, but pay us 200euro just for driving here.

So what to do? Is it something to worry about? I will try to record the noise today evening when on my way from work, or tomorrow morning, when the car will be cold...
 
take it to somewhere that knows the cars , hopefully all the tensioners were replaced when timing belt was done , but most likely power steering or alternator belt easy fix
 
Where abouts are you? Surely someone around you will check the belts tightness for you?

If you are down my area i can check it for you if you not sure.
 
So, I have checked, and I have only one belt outside(not counting the timing belt) and that goes on three spots, one of them being the Alternator. So I have ordered another Belt and that should be easy job for me, so I will replace that one this sunday and see if the noise goes off.

Question is what to do next if it doesnt go off?

To my understanding, one belt should connect Alternator and Power steering pump, and the other should connect Airconditioning, which I dont have, am I right?
 
When you have the alternator belt off... Start the car.. See if the sound is in it
 
You should be only able to turn the belt 180 degrees
If you can turn it anymore than that you can either tighten it up with the tension bracket on the alternator
Or replace belt.

Make sure not to over tighten as you can put extra pressure on the bearings.

I'm only up the road from you if your stuck.
 
Thanks guys, so far it seems it was indeed the belt, I have changed it, the belt was looking like a new from outside, but inside it looked a bit old and had some cracks... I could not tighten the new one even to half of what was the old one tightened, I guess it was a bit shorter, I had a bit of trouble getting it on as it was very tight... but all sits properly now and car doesn't make any more weird sounds yet... will see in a week or two of driving, but so far so good...
 
Also, when i had it open, i took the steel cover piece, cleaned it properly and painted red... Will have to give a proper clean to whole engine bay tho...

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk
 

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Allrite.. so over a week now, the sound is back... When I was changing the belt tho, I have checked that both, alternator and the main source pulleys were both very stiff and good. When I checked the powersteering pulley, it was a bit wobly, very tiny bit tho, just like 0.8-1.0mm to sides.

Here is the video with the sound of it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFYMxrcOkJc&feature=youtu.be

On top of this, today for the first time, I have noticed, that when I go all the way with the steering wheel, at the end it gets kinda jumpy, so I do indeed blame the Power steering pump. Today, I checked if I didnt overtighten the belt when I was replacing it, but it felt slightly more loose than when I was putting it there new, definitely not too tight... Powersteering fluid is on normal levels too, but not sure when it was changed last time.

What are my options? Changing the pulley only, tightening the pulley or getting whole new powersteering pump?
 
IMO... That's a belt slipping and not a bearing.
Bearing would make a more continuous sound, but yours has the pitched squeal of a belt slipping and once the belt catches up with the pully it is quiet.

I know you just changed the belts, but maybe tension isn't right.
Also, it makes some sense... you tightened new belts just about right... and then after a week they stretched a little (all new belts stretch a little) and now just a bit too lose - though only marginal unless it is also squealing under acceleration.

To fix: tighten belts again to right spec.
 
Huh, that actually makes sense... it does squeal during acceleration, but only if I accelerate imediately after start - which might still be caused by the belt slipping, plus if the belt is slipping, it may result in bad power steering... Well I will tighten it a little bit then, and see if that fixes itself...

Thanks Keadeen!
 
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