Hi all -

We have a 2004 XC90 with ~122K miles. About a month ago, it started making a loud, cyclical, squeeking noise when started cold. The noise only happens for a few seconds, and only when the engine is cold. Once the engine is warm, subsequent starts don't generate a noise. The car has to be sitting for several hours for it to reoccur at start.

The noise changes in pitch along with the RPMs of the car, so when I rev the engine, the noise rises in pitch.

I recorded a short video to hopefully give clues. The video has three consecutive starts of the engine, and you can see how the noise lessens as the engine warms after each start.

Any ideas? I will be taking it to the shop tomorrow, and wanted to give my mechanic as much info as possible, especially given how quickly the noise goes away.

Watch video here: http://vimeo.com/12617124

Thanks!

 

Has the timing belt and pulleys been replaced?

 

Sounds like a belt or bearings in the water, AC, or alternator. When cold they will make noise and as they heat up and expand the noise reduces, but consider it a warning sign! Need to get them checked. Belts can be checked by checking wear and tension. Bearings will require a trained ear to listen under the hood for source of noise or look for leakage.

Good luck,

 

Thanks, everyone! I just had the car serviced this past Friday, having the timing belt and pulleys replaced because that was overdue. The noise is still there.

@buckeyecal - can you tell me the general location of the compressor or alternator so I can check them out?

 

buckeyecal, do you agree with this?


Under the power steering pump is alternator, and compressor under alternator.



Im have seen a lot of tensioners go bad by just taking the belt off to do something, i guess when it loses tension with the belt on, they make noise.

 

Hi all -

Just reviving this thread to see if anyone has any other suggestions. Since my original post, I've had the timing belt and pulleys replaced. Noise is still there. Since the problem takes a long time to reproduce (have to wait until the engine is cold, and then the noise only lasts for a few seconds), they suggested I wait until the sound happens more frequently, and they can try and search for the noise again.

I had to take the car into the dealer for the fuel pump bulletin, so I went ahead and had them look into the noise as well. They really didn't get very far, and eventually suggested the same thing my mechanic suggested above.

In the meantime, the noise hasn't really gotten worse (or better). One thing I'm wondering about - you know how, when the engine is started cold, it will rev up to the 1400s for a few seconds, before dropping down to 1000, then down to 750 RPMs? The noise only happens when the car is up at the 1400 level. But after the RPMs have dropped down to 1000, the noise no longer happens.

What controls this? Is it strictly the computer opening the throttle to reach RPMs in the 1500s? Or is there some mechanism that engages to get this to happen? I'm suspecting that whatever that mechanism is is causing the noise.

Any ideas? Thanks!

 

my car,97 850 t5 has the exact same noise, and new water pump,timing belt sepentine belt. To me tho it sounds like its the tenshioner, I tried wd40 in there, now it sounds like a wet squeaking lol. Is replacing the tensioner difficult, looks origional, like they never replaced it when they did the timing belt, I've just got the car

 

Just closing the loop on this one, as I finally got the problem fixed last week! The noise was coming from a leak where the exhaust intake attached to the engine. There was soot all over the spot where the leak was.

So last week, I finally take the car in to get this fixed. I was warned that labor would be relatively expensive for this repair, so I had to wait a bit to get it done. :-) Well, as my mechanic started taking parts off, he finally found out why the gasket blew - one of the studs/bolts had broken off, so the seal wasn't as good as it should be. They had to spend a couple extra hours getting the broken bolt out of the head. :-/ After a couple hundred $ more in labor, the problem is finally fixed!

I'd forgotten how peppy the 5-cylinder could be!