This is my latest attempt to deal with a mild Chirp – Chirp – Chirp thats been part of my Mirada life since day one.
It seems like everything I’ve done works for a few hundred miles, then I get the chirp back. Basically, the chirp is caused when the belt skids on the idler or a pulley
These are my past attempts to stop the chirp:
#1 – Replaced bearings on idlers and tensioner. Replaced original belt with 110 inch Gates. After a couple hundred miles, the chirp came back and turned into a squeal. I re-installed the original belt and this went back to a chirp.
#2 – Replaced Belt with OEM Ford belt. I could see a difference on how far the tensioner needed to be moved when I installed the new Ford belt vs the Gates replacement. It seemed like the gates belt didn’t move the tensioner at all.
#3 – Replaced tensioner. I installed a new tensioner thinking the spring on the tensioner was getting soft. This seemed to work for a couple hundred miles.
#4 – Replaced both idlers. Tried new idlers, thinking the surface on the idlers was warped or something, again, seemed to work for a little while, then chirp-chirp-chirp
LATEST ATTEMPT – Install shorter belt.
My latest attempt has been to use the shortest belt that I can install. The OEM belt is a little over 110 inches. I tried a 108 1/2 but couldn’t get it on. I got a 109 3/8 and was able to install it.
Theoretically, with a shorter belt, the tensioner will put more tension on this belt making it a little tighter against the idlers and pulleys.
A short test drive and there wasn’t any Chirp-Chirp-Chirp, but I’ll know better when I put a couple thousand miles on it.
BELT INSTALL
There are two different size tensioner idler pulleys, #2 is smaller than #5.
In order to get the 109 inch belt on, I removed the two idler pulleys. After the belt was on, I then re-installed the idlers.
