Whirring noise near front of engine - Ford Forums

bassman697 · 08-28-2007, 17:45

Please forgive me if this question has already been posted.

I have a '98 Explorer 5L with ~130K miles. The truck has been well cared for with regular routine maintenance. (BTW: I'm the original owner)

Over the past few weeks I been hearing an ever louder whirring noise which seems to be coming from the front of the engine.

The noise starts when the engine starts & seems to be tied to engine RPMs.

I recently replaced the serp belt. While the belt was off, I briefly ran the engine to help pinpoint noises that might have come from the belt driven parts like alternator, PS, AC comp, water pump, idler pulleys. The noise seemed to quit. Before installing the new belt, I spun each pulley and other parts on the belt's path. Everything seemed to be smooth w/o noise or "play".

Any suggestions?

Thanks,

John

mphmcm · 09-05-2007, 07:10

I sure would like to see a reply to this problem, I have the same thing going on with my 99 5.0 with 75,000 mi. on it. I did all the same proceedures, still continues. It's very annoying!

bassman697 · 09-05-2007, 17:06

This might be one possible answer...

Tonight I checked the top serp idler pulley. With belt installed, I gave the outer rim of the pulley a tug front-to-back. In the words of Georgee Constanza, "It MOVED!" Not much, but I'm guessing that the bearing is headed south.

I need to verify this suspicion weekend.

Good luck!

Bassman

thefonz · 09-05-2007, 19:31

You could try the poor mans stethoscope and see if you can isolate it.