Hey Guys & Gals,
I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this, but I wanted to share how I fixed a squealing noise from the engine bay of my '02. A little backstory, about 3-4 months ago I started hearing a noise from the passenger side of my front end whenever I would start it up in the morning, and I naturally thought the cold weather had a part to play. It would usually last for the entire drive to work (about 20 minutes on local roads) and would sometimes be there on my way home as well, but not always. It was most noticeable while idling and when I took my foot off the gas.
I started thinking it was a most likely a belt so I changed it out, but no luck. I then started searching around the forum and google and a few people were suggesting it could be a vacuum leak of some kind. I thought this might be it, considering the noise tended to go away when I was accelerating, so a few weeks ago I checked every hose I could find for cracks and made sure they were connected properly. Still no dice. Same squealing/squeaking noise. A few days later I took it in to a local 4x4 shop to have it looked at and the guy said he thought it was an idler pulley going bad and I should have them replaced. My jeep only has 70k miles, but it IS 19 years old so I thought maybe he was right.
I wanted to exhaust all the possible causes before I ordered one up, so yesterday I thought I'd check the wheel and brakes to see if something was maybe stuck or rubbing or something. After climbing underneath and looking around, everything looked great. And then it happened. As I was climbing back out from underneath, I pulled myself up from the side step and I heard that damned squeak. I lifted the hood and propped it up and put a little weight on the front bumper to recreate the sound. Sure enough, there it was, coming from the stock air box. I grabbed it and wiggled it up and down and it was squeaking away. It turns out, 2 of the bolts holding the air box in place were missing the nuts underneath in the wheel well, causing the air box to move up and down on the front and back, kind of like a see-saw. I took the remaining 2 nuts and slapped 'em on the furthest front and back bolts and it worked! no more more wiggling air box and NO MORE SQUEAKING AND SQUEALING. I test drove it around the block a few times and it was gone. Even this morning with the cold start and drive to work, nothing. Total silence.
I just wanted to share this in case it helps anyone with a similar issue.
Thanks!
I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this, but I wanted to share how I fixed a squealing noise from the engine bay of my '02. A little backstory, about 3-4 months ago I started hearing a noise from the passenger side of my front end whenever I would start it up in the morning, and I naturally thought the cold weather had a part to play. It would usually last for the entire drive to work (about 20 minutes on local roads) and would sometimes be there on my way home as well, but not always. It was most noticeable while idling and when I took my foot off the gas.
I started thinking it was a most likely a belt so I changed it out, but no luck. I then started searching around the forum and google and a few people were suggesting it could be a vacuum leak of some kind. I thought this might be it, considering the noise tended to go away when I was accelerating, so a few weeks ago I checked every hose I could find for cracks and made sure they were connected properly. Still no dice. Same squealing/squeaking noise. A few days later I took it in to a local 4x4 shop to have it looked at and the guy said he thought it was an idler pulley going bad and I should have them replaced. My jeep only has 70k miles, but it IS 19 years old so I thought maybe he was right.
I wanted to exhaust all the possible causes before I ordered one up, so yesterday I thought I'd check the wheel and brakes to see if something was maybe stuck or rubbing or something. After climbing underneath and looking around, everything looked great. And then it happened. As I was climbing back out from underneath, I pulled myself up from the side step and I heard that damned squeak. I lifted the hood and propped it up and put a little weight on the front bumper to recreate the sound. Sure enough, there it was, coming from the stock air box. I grabbed it and wiggled it up and down and it was squeaking away. It turns out, 2 of the bolts holding the air box in place were missing the nuts underneath in the wheel well, causing the air box to move up and down on the front and back, kind of like a see-saw. I took the remaining 2 nuts and slapped 'em on the furthest front and back bolts and it worked! no more more wiggling air box and NO MORE SQUEAKING AND SQUEALING. I test drove it around the block a few times and it was gone. Even this morning with the cold start and drive to work, nothing. Total silence.
I just wanted to share this in case it helps anyone with a similar issue.
Thanks!
