Hey, I just purchased a 2005 Scion XB and i love it. The problem is, in the last few days its gotten a lot colder. And now upon startup and accelerating from a stop, I hear this chirping / squeaking sound coming from the engine area. The chirping speeds up as the rpms get higher in first and second gear.

But I also noticed the squeaking stops after like 10mins of driving, once the car has heated up. Which could be kind of annoying, since if I take it to the shop by the time I get there the sound will probably be gone.

Any ideas of what it could be? Or if you have had a similar occurence?

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

could be the serpentine belts slipping.
spray some belt dressing on the belts and it should help relieve the issue if it is that.
or you might have worn down belts.

that's my take.

 

Well its scion certified preowned - passed 160 point inspection, so would think the belt is good. Will try belt dressing and hopefully that will fix it.

 

pre-owned is pretty much BS, just a great way to charge more for a used car.

160 point inspection is pretty much, does the car start, does it make any funny noises, do all the running lights work, do all the buttons do what they are supposed to, do the doors open and close, do the windows go up and down, are the tires round, do the brakes stop the car etc.

you could figure all that out test driving a used car yourself. so yeah, your belt could need replacing or dressing or whatever.

 

yeah..i agree..has to be the belt...due to the colder weather...

 

Definitely the belt, I would return to dealer and politely ask them to replace the belts.
As someone who does the occasional Toyota pre-owned certification, I can tell you that the checklist of thing to check & service is as long as my arm. If the Tech does his job properly, the car should be prepared for sale better that the average used car.
Then again, we are all human & make mistakes, the belt was probably missed.
The dealer should have no hesitation in correcting it for you.

 

The belt is squeaking. This does not mean that anything is wrong with the belt. It means that there is some slippage of the pulley against the shoulder of the belt. The squeak can be stopped with belt dressing. You can either spray what you can see of the belt, which will get the gunk all over the end of the engine, or you buy a tube of dressing and use a finger to dab it on the belt. A tiny dab will spread itself around. If the squeak keeps returning, check the alignment of the pulley and try a fresh belt.

 

Thanks a lot guys. I really appreciate the help. It should be covered by the Powertrain Warranty, so Ill take it over there and have em take a look at it.

 

I haven't looked to see if our xA's have a tensioner on them, but I would guess that they do. That is usually the cause of a "chirping" sound in regards to belts. Usually a slipping belt is more of a "squealing" sound.

 

there is no belt tensioner would of loved to have one on the PS pump

 

Yes. His chirping is not from the belt slipping on pulley, but from the shoulder of the belt slipping against the side of the pulley as the belt rolls on and off the pulley. It is caused by imperfect alignment, not looseness. So one of the things to check would be the pulley.

 

Now THAT is sucky sucky. Glad I haven't had to change my belt.....yet.

 

i had some what a heck of a time getting the PS to tighten up when i replaced my engine belts

i managed, use a crowbar thats about 2-3 feet long then tighten the bolts down...

 

He's evactly right, there is no tensioner besides a long steel bar wedged against the power steering pump. I have a lot of squeaking now that it's colder as well, but it's coming from the supercharger belt and not the serpentine. Just one of the "features" of the charger and can't really be gotten rid of through tightening or belt dressing, might end up replacing the belt later if I can find a cheaper generic sub for the one Greddy sent to run from the alternator pulley to the blower.

Why did Toyota not put a brace point to pry against on the power steering pump?

 

God I hate replacing that damned belt.

 

Yep had the local toyota shop have a look at it.
"Found loose drive belts. Tightened & Lubed belts."

Hopefully that'll do the trick, thanks to all that responded.

 

gator back...