rossocorsa33

Hi,
A 6speedonline post had a similar sound. The comments pointed to a water pump bearing, but the owner never followed up to confirm this was the fix.

Can anyone identify the squeak I'm hearing?


Thanks!

BTERRY1

Could be. Could also be an idler pully, power steering, or alternator. Remove the belt and spin them all individually by hand to see if you can determine who is at fault. Report back.

GraSox

Just went through this w my 06 4S. Exact sound and only on cold start. It was the bearings in the water pump.

Macster

If there is a squeak I don't hear it. I hear a rumbling noise though and that sounds very much like the noise my Boxster engine made when its water pump proved to be bad. From cold the water pump was quiet but as the cold engine idled the noise grew in loudness.

With my 996 Turbo a distinct chirp that appeared as the cold engine idled proved to be an idler roller bearing. The 2nd one that failed. The first time I just heard a dry bearing sound.

If you want check the belt. If you find a sharp edge (or two) this is a sign the belt is not tracking true and this is due to a worn accessory drive that causes the belt to rub on the side of the pulley.

If you want remove the belt -- carefully note its routing and direction of travel so you can reinstall it correctly -- and check the various accessory drives for play.

In the case of my Boxster's water pump the play (radial and axial play) at the water pump wasn't much but it was more than at the other accessory drives which essentially had no play.

997_rich

I just went through this on my '05 with 120k miles. I'm crazy about this stuff because I do track the car a lot and I do drive 4 states away each week (and I hate getting stranded).

Everything looked good (freewheeling and no grinding when run by hand) but it was annoying me so I experimented with all 3 rollers, no luck. new belt, no luck. I tried some belt-dressing spray as a test, no luck. then I was janking on the water pump and could get about .5mm end play. So I replaced that even though it had 30k miles. No luck. Then I was pulling the alternator and I could get end play on that. So i bought a new one and it turns out a new Bosch out of the box has the same endplay when pulling really hard- must be the directional clutch that does that. I replaced it anyway, no luck.

Finally, after all that I was leaning in the engine compartment just staring at the pulleys and I noticed that the recessed slotting in the pulleys on the crank/AC/PS had some black gunk- just literally impacted dust. The top of the valley of each recessed slot was bright metal but not the valley. So I took a small flat blade screw driver and put it in 2 layers of terrycloth and ran it through all the slots repeatedly. I even turned the crank (take the car out of gear and use a wrench) and cleaned that. It took 40 minutes to get them to the point where all the valleys were bright.

And that was it. I haven't experienced the squeak squeak squeak issues since.

Wayne Smith

Nice ... !!!

widebodytarga

Really sounds like an idler pulley that's deteriorating to me. The top pulley has a tendency to pick up water if the engine cover is opened after the car has been wet. Try some silicone spray on the top pulley and see if the noise dissipates.

rossocorsa33

Just got the car back from Modderman in Mountain View, CA. He identified a bearing in the water pump that was loose. I had him replace it, and the belt. So far, the squeak is gone.

Forgot to mention that the sound would slowly emerge after cold start, be around for a couple of minutes, then fade away. Maybe the warm water was heating the bearing and it would expand a little.

Also had him replace the cable to the starter/alternator (was slow to crank). What a difference! But not cheap

Macster

Good to know you got it fixed. While not a cheap fix just let a water pump fail and see how much this can cost you.

My Boxster's water pump lasted 172K miles, the Turbo's around 120K miles.

Lvt19672

Good to know these water pumps can go that long Mac.