Every time I start my truck now when its cold it seems to a noise like a bearing is gone.
After it warms up you can hear it but not too much. Ive heard the tensioner could have moved a bit making it squeal, I have a 08 fx4 4.0L. I know for sure its a pully or tensioner just looking to get some info. Its under warranty but everytime I bring it in it seems like it goes away and they cant find anything. Thanks for any info.

 

Mine makes a slight slapping noise, prolly the belt. try that maybe. How many miles?

 

57KMS still under warranty but it doesnt sound like the belt it looks good and I have had it checked by ford twice now and everytime they bring it in they cant hear it and it really only does it when its cold right now. It sounds like a pully or the tensioner in my opinion.

 

My '01 (can't speak directly to your '08) has the fan/waterpump pulley driven by the back-side (smooth side ) of the belt.

After chasing around, the squeak I had on cooler mornings or after sitting a few days was the belt slipping on the water-pump pulley. A gator-back belt (Goodyear) together with breaking the sheen/shine off of the pulley did the trick.

I worried a bit that the water-pump was getting stiff and requiring additional force to turn, causing the slip condition -- I was able to suggestively compare a few Ranger (and other 4.0) water pumps and the pump on this '01 didn't seem to require any additional force to turn.

I'm not sure that there was a good conclusion -- I'm fairly certain that the noise will return as the belt and pulley wear again.

As a diagnostic step - ONLY after you've committed to changing the belt, try adding a bit of light lube to the smooth-side of the belt while the squeak is happening... if it fades, there's only one (at least in '01) item driven off of that side of the belt. Of course the suck is that you'll need to pull the belt and clean off the contamination that you just added before replacing the belt....

 

My tensioner is bad, and my idler pulley wobbles a bit, it causes more of a tapping sound that is pretty annoying. Both are easy to replace tho and cheap if you do it yourself. Mine are getting replaced soon with my underdrive pulleys which should arrive tomorrow :)

 

Pull the belt off and spin the pulleys you should be able to hear or feel which one is making the noise.
The new idler and tensioner pulleys are pretty cheap or just replace the bearings. If memory serves me they are 6203's just make sure you get sealed ones.

 

Wirelessly posted (Blackberry 8530)

Yeah, 6203's are the ones, and even the good ones are cheap. I think the last bunch I got was less than $2/pc. Very easy to replace. A couple of large sockets and a bench vice is all you need to pop them out and pop the new ones in.

 

Also, if you are starting the truck w/ the heat on, try turning the HVAC panel vent location selector **** (defrost, floor, dash, etc) to "off" before starting it. My truck sometimes makes a crunching/grinding noise if started w/ it in any setting that engages the A/C compressor @ start-up. It always has done this intermittently since i've owned the truck new, but never had any other issues related to the noise.

 

Hey Tony I believe your right because i actually caught my truck making the noise and a mechanic was around so he heard it and thought it was my A/C compressor. Ive had it in twice at Ford but they couldnt find anything wrong.
I guess it gets annoying so I'll have to replace them myself because Ford cant find the problem which bugs me! I just wanted to get it covered by warranty before it runs out.I'll try starting it without the heat on and see what happens. I always start it with the heat on because i use my autostart a lot because its cold up here lol.Thanks for the info!

 

Glad I could help. I kind of had an idea it was the same phenomenon I've experienced w/ my Ranger. I've just gotten in the habit of turning everything to "off" when I get out of the truck so it doesn't happen when i get in it @ startup. If it makes you feel any better, It happened to me the very first day I had my truck when it was new and I was thinking, "wtf is this already". But it's an '03 w/ over 100K on it now, and i've never had any issues related to the a/c pump, heating/cooling system, or belts & pulleys. The only other thing i've noticed is the compressor makes a fairly noticeable "ticking" noise (heard from outside the vehicle, not in) when it is engaged, but i've heard other Ford's w/ the same exact sound, and read about it as being "just a Ford thing" on forums when I was wondering about it as well.