Hello,

I have a 99 Sable and there is a loud chirp underneath the hood that sounds like it is coming from the drivers side. Has anyone experienced this before and do you know what it could possible be? It sounds like a bird dying and it usually makes the noise going 35 MPH our below. I have taken my car into the shop 3 times last month and have had a new starter, new brakes, new coolant tank etc put in. Let me know what you think.

Thank you!

 

When does this chirp occur? Under acceleration/braking etc.? Must be loud enough for you to hear while drivig. Mileage, 12V or 24V? Let me know. Have you checked for a bird in the grill? LOL!!

 

The chirp occurs as soon as i start the car and it continues until i go about 35 to 40 MPH, otherwise it makes a steady chirp the entire time accelerating and braking. I was hoping when i checked the engine to find the bird but no such luck. I have 75k miles on it...i read some other posts and was thinking that maybe it had to do with the camshaft...what are your thoughts?

 

Does the chirp gt slower/faster with engine rpm?

 

quieter with more RPMs, faster with lower RPMs

 

Hmmm. So at idle, it should be loud right? Have you tried to isolate the sound under the hood? Camshaft probs will make the engine run rough and tumble like it is down a cylender or two. How about belt or acc. issues like the a/c comp. , alt, P/S? Definately a chirp, right? Not a squeal or another alike sound? Does it run the same as before the "chirp"?

 

makes me think it might be a pully rubbing at one point in the rotation (one cratered bearing).

 

At idle it is loud and i would still call it a high pitch chirp and not a squeal. The car doesn''t run rough at all and it doesn''t sound/feel like it is down a cylinder...the car didn''t have much power before and it doesn''t feel like it has less now. As far as the belt goes, that was inspected when i took it in and they said that it didn''t look bad...i am not sure about anything else. I do know that the car started making the noise after i took it in to have the coolant reservoir replaced as well as the filler cap. Is there anything else you think i would notice? Or do you think something could have been hit while those parts were being replaced?

 

check the pulleys while it''s running to see if any are wobbling. you might also check to see if there''s any tools caught between the pulleys that might be scraping. I once found a loose screwdriver in my car from a trip to the shop.

 

Two thoughts on this chirp sound. I had the same thing happening on my 1996 LS. The obvious thing that comes to mind is a belt related cause. Belts can be "faulty" and produce such a noise because of slipping/gripping each rotation. I think it''s safe to assume that you''d never hear the cams making anything other than clearance/clicking related sounds. If you hear a chirp, the cam is already junk! What proved to be the cause on my vehicle was actually traced to casting flash on the brake caliper contacting the rotor. All of a sudden, it all made sense. Same speed occurance as well. Apparently everything changed dimensionally or pitch wise as speed increased. Point is, it was never a problem again.