I start my car up, and it chirps like a damn bird on an early spring morning. The shop said it was my water pump. I replaced it, and not only is my engine still squeaking, but now I have a leaky water pump because I suck at putting them on apparently. It wasn't the belt either, I just replaced it today, too. Could it be my alternator? It's the stock one and I put in a power-hungry sound system a month or two ago.

 

Hmm it could be your alt ..could also be a pulley,spray some wd on pulleys to narrow it down to the one.Or it could even be your headers not tight or where the header attaches to the cat pipe.just an idea.

 

I got a dollar that says its the belt tensioner. Mine got to doing the same thing not long ago. The good thing if it IS. . . Its a very simple and easy fix that will prolly cost you about 40 bucks.

EDIT: try a squirt of WD40 in the center of the tensioner pully and see it the sound changes or stops momentarily.

 

yea, its the belt tensioner. I just went through the same thing, it drove me crazy.

it cost me $80 at a dealer, which was a rip off. but yeah, thats probably it.

 

belt tension-er on mine when I had it. Easy repair.

 

Check your idlers or tensioner. I wouldn't use WD-40 as a check as that stuff isn't good for the rubber on the belt. Instead, release the tension and turn the pulleys. You will know by feel if they're bad (hard to turn/slop).

 

Did the birds start singin after you put the sound system in? How do you suck at a water pump?

 

That's what I'm saying lol. We must not have let the sealant sit long enough to dry.

How can I make sure it's my tensioner? Is there a way to check it somehow? I like to work on my car rather than putting it in the shop.

 

spray some lube inside the pulley or at the face of it (not on the surface the belt touches) then start her up and see if the noise goes away.

 

Alright, so the new water pump is in and that's all good now. I replaced an idler and it wasn't the problem. I'm pretty sure it IS the tensioner. Where is the bolt I'm supposed to unscrew to remove it? The directions just say "unscrew the bolt". It can't be the one on the pulley itself can it? I don't see how that would work, but it's the onl bolt in sight. Do you know of any vids that could show me how to do this? Or could someone give me some descriptive instructions?

 

Total loss, sell the car.