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Thread: Squealing, chirping, gerbil sounds from the engine bay

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  1. Squealing, chirping, gerbil sounds from the engine bay 
    #1
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    Hi all.

    This post is to hopefully help anyone who has 'animal' noises coming from under their bonnet. Possibly when they are on full steering lock, and possibly accompanied by an acrid burning smell?


    This is not the first time I have encountered this problem (and on different VAG years and models) so here goes.


    This Golf mk IV was making cheep, cheep, cheep, cheep, noises when on full turning lock only.
    To me, it sounded as if one of the auxilliary belt wheels was going... So I changed the tensioner wheel only.

    That did nothing to resolve it, so I changed the aux belt tensioner too...


    Yet STILL the gerbils were having a party!


    Decided to spray some silicon onto the belt, and hooray! The 'animals' had gone!
    ...But only for a day or so... (face palm). So changed the auxilliary belt. There was a noticeable difference in length and that did seem to resolve the problem.

    HOWEVER... once more the noises returned, only considerably louder and by now, constant.

    By now I was wondering if it was the power steering pump? The AC pump? or the alternator?


    Didn't have to wait long as yesterday, you could 'feel' that something was rubbing somewhere and after a 10 minute drive, as I got out, there was a smell of scorched metal. Not too dissimilar from a failing clutch.

    Enough was enough, so removed the aux belt (not least to make sure it wasn't the timing belt tensioner at fault) and as I attempted to verify the stabilty of each pulley wheel, the grooved alternator pulley just slid off into my hand. Doh!

    The intial diagnosis was half correct - in that it was a failing aux belt wheel - however I did not look into it sufficiently.


    As mentioned. I hope this helps someone out there, as for sure, this is a recurring problem and one which was not easy to find through searching.
     
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  2. Re: Squealing, chirping, gerbil sounds from the engine bay 
    #2
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    I was hoping you'd found a lost colony of these: European hamster added to 'critically endangered' list - BBC News
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  3. Re: Squealing, chirping, gerbil sounds from the engine bay 
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    This used to be a very common issue when VAG started using one way clutch pulleys and mostly affected the TDI although some petrol ones had them and failed but not often. In the last few years the problem has largely died out due to the power steering now being electric. My petrol Octavia 1U doesn’t have one but would benefit from it if I had the time.
    Anthropogenic climate change, the biggest con inflicted on mankind since religion...

    Slava Ukraini
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  4. Re: Squealing, chirping, gerbil sounds from the engine bay 
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    Hi Crasher.

    It seemed to me that it must have been (still be) a common issue. A lesson also for me to not be lazy and to have slipped off the aux belt early on and checked each pulley wheel for excess play.

    Basic really. How many times must I learn this same lesson?


    Feel sorry for the European hamsters (didn't know they existed) but joking aside, I have three times found rats or mice living in vehicles, and boy, can they %*#@ things up!
     
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