so normally my truck has a good little squeal to it but it goes away after 30seconds of the truck running from a cold start. thats not a big deal for me, pretty sure its just the belt.

Today i hoped in it, its a 2002 edge with the 3L (ovbs), and i turned the key to hear a horrible squealing, not the normal squeal but a rather loud one. i poped the hood to see if i could pinpoint the issue, im no mechanic, yet, but it seemed to be coming from the belt/fan area. i looked at the fan from the side and noticed it wasnt balanced worth sht, it has a pretty good wobble to it. im wondering if maybe some bearings it spins on could have gone and started this horrific noise?

hopefully someone has some ideas and places for me to look, if not ill just bring it into the shop (i work at ford, conveniently) and let one of the guys look at it

 

You might need a Fan clutch. when your truck is off, try spinning your fan by hand, that should give you a good ideas of whether or not its messed up.

 

Belt slipping?

 

Idler pulley will do that if the bearing seal is failing. Moisture collects in the bearings and burns off after a few seconds of spinning and heat up. Idler and tensioner pulley have similar symptoms.

 

STXDangerRanger probably has it right, it could be your fan clutch or the pulley it is bolted to may be loose.

 

ill check all these tomorrow, the idler pulley should be fine, i just replaced that when i got the truck cuz the bearing was toast and it had wackloads of play in it. ill have a look at the tensioner tomorrow.

the sounds coming from up front, but do you think it could be a bearing in the water pump?

edit: just span the fan, it spins but theres a decent amount of resistance thats trying to hold it there.

 

very very low power steering?
the fan should take little to no effort to spin when the truck is entirely off. The clutch should be disengaged and therefore miniscule resistance. drive it down the street. Does it sound like a giant vacuum under the hood?

 

If it hasn't already been replaced , pull the camshaft syncronizer assembly and check the lower bearing for excessive play.Usually they will chirp quite loudly when they dry out. That assembly drives the oil pump , so if it fails you lose all oil pressure.

 

most ikely your belt tensioner, it may look and feel ok, but it is prolly offset and hitting the belt slanted, replace both your fan clutch and your tensioner and it will go away. 99.9 percent positive.

 

i think this is gonna be my best bet, i cant afford to do any work with the camshaft between school, couple hours of work, and only being 17, money isnt rolling in as fast as id like.

i'll let you guys know when i get onto it, payday weds!

 

my truck mad a high pitched squealing one day when i started it i drove 2 miles and my serpentine snapped.... not a fun situation