alright im having a problem with my mustang. its a 2001, automatic. i took it out of town a few months ago, and when i came back it started making this screetching noise coming from the front end. i thought for sure it was either coming from my belt or my water pump so i replaced both. its still making the squeeling noise so took off my belt and started the engine for a couple seconds and it still made the same sound. so that pretty much narrows it down to the crank shaft and harmonic balencer area. the noise only occurs after a long drive on the freeway. if i drive it for a while in the city, the noise will go away. the noise will get really loud and at times will stall my engine. i have no clue what it could be. i know its hard to understand the problem through word but any kind of advice about this problem will be greatly appriciated. Thank you

 

edit: I was thinking a throwout bearing but i read you have an automatic.

Hmm. Usually its a belt/pulley issue but you replaced the belt. I have not a clue. Do you have udp's?

 

Look at the harmonic balancer.

 

hey i think i know the sound your talking about. My car did it some if its the same. Mine does it when its colder outside. and it kinda sounds like a supercharger whistling. idk how to reproduce it as it hasnt done it in awhile. but i dont know what it is either.

 

mine makes the same nosie but only when its moving. changed my powersteering pump and belt and it didnt work either. its so annoying.

 

yeah when its cold it gets pretty loud. its really annoying.

 

Squeals are usually belts and pulsating "chirps" are generally bearings. What you are describing sounds like a belt, but if you ran ther car w/o it, I guess that rules that out. Sorry, not much help.

 

yeah it sound just like a bearing is going out. but what bearing could be going out that down by the crank shaft? or what could even be going out thats down in that area?

 

Timing belt would be my guess. How many miles are on it?

 

it has 102,000 miles on it.

 

It could be the timing belt (or timing chain). It's inside a cover behind the crank shaft pulley/harmonic balancer. Give it a listen with the car running.

It could also be the a/c compressor pulley clutch (not sure if that's what it's called)... but that would go away if you turn the a/c off.

 

I had a similar issue and it was the tensioner pulley. On my brothers car it turned out to be the alternator. It sounds like a bearing failure,if you remove the belt you should be able to spin each pulley. Each pullye should not have any play up and down or side to side.

 

I had the same problem also. A new tensioner pulley turned out to be a quick and easy fix.