[02chromeyellowzx5]

When I cold start my car I hear a horrid noise coming from the engine bay. I have narrowed it down to the water pump pulley. It sounds like a cricket, but its non stop. I sprayed some lubricant on the face of the pulley at the bearing point which quiets it down for about 2 seconds. It usually stops being noisy after about 10-15 minutes of driving. I just changed the alternator last week and the belt seemed a bit tighter afterwards, I was wondering if this could be caused by the belt being to tight?

 

[mmb617]

Sounds a lot like what my wife's car was doing. Water pump replacement fixed it. At least it was easy to do with help from members here. The WP was $48 at AutoZone.

http://www.focusfanatics.com/forum/showthread.php?t=268094

 

[whynotthinkwhynot]

That does sound like a bad water pump to me too. Is it leaking coolant from the front of the pulley?

 

[02chromeyellowzx5]

No coolants leaks at all. I deliver pizza for a job and when I leave the car running at a slight up hill incline it dies start to get warm but the fans kick in and keep it from over heating

 

[mmb617]

Ours wasn't leaking any coolant, nor was the car overheating, but once the pump was off and you turned it by hand it was obvious the bearing was shot. Instead of being loose like I expect a bad bearing to be, it was tight but didn't turn smoothly, and you could actually hear it squeak as you turned it by hand.

I figure it was only a matter of time till it would have leaked/overheated, and the noise was driving my wife crazy!