I have a chirping noise under the hood... (03 F150 4.2L) usually at low RPM (goes away when engine is revved, comes back when it goes back down to idle), and goes away when accellerating. It also goes away after 10 - 15 mins of running, so Im assuming temp is doing something to change it... Ive removed the fan and shroud, removed the belt, and discovered that the noise is coming from the crankshaft pulley area... To best describe the sound... it sounds like rubber squeaking from outside the truck... but through a stethiscope (sp?) it sounds like metal scrapping or squeaking... Any ideas on what this could be?? Here's a vid of the sound:

 

Here you guys go:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVuWzL7mvi0

 

well dont run the truck for very long until you figure out whats going on

have you checked your oil level and condition?
do you have any oil leaks around the harmonic balancer (crank pulley)?

it was kinda hard to tell from the video, but does the harmonic balance kinda wobble around a little bit?

 

no wobbling... oil and everything is good. no leaks. I got this response on another site:

camshaft synchronizer, very common for that engine. replace it before it stops running. also replace the camshaft position sensor at the same time.

Does that sound about right?

 

Im not sure about a synchronizer, let me do some research real quick.

Also i just realized you're right down the street from me :o

 

Thank man, and I dont live in Garland anymore... my dad does. Im in Little Elm now (by Frisco)

 

hmm... cant say much from me other than dont use Fram filters. Motorcraft or bust for these engines

 

I live in rowlett and work in frisco, so either way you're close

 

Is it just me, or does it look like the pulleys aren't moving.....

 

right, he took the belt off to eliminate an accessory as the culprit of the noise

 

Gotcha. Thank ya Pat. Just making sure I wasn't going crazy.... =/

 

you probably are going crazy

 

Probably...damn Calculus.

 

So I started my truck today for the first time in about a month. I drove it around for a bit to run some errands and I started hearing this same exact whining noise from the same exact place (crank shaft pulley) as shown in the video above when sitting idle at stop lights.

So it appears I have a camshaft synchronizer issue, which is apparently a common problem on the 4.2 V6. Other then the normal vacuum leaks, this is the first issue I've ran into with my truck. It has a lil over 113,000 miles and she does sit a lot now. It still runs fine, no check engine light, but I'm concerned about this noise.

Has anyone had this problem and done this repair themselves? If so, what am I up against here? I assume it's a bad idea to continue to drive the truck anymore until I get this fixed? Thanks.

 

Humm, cant say i have ever heard of such issue. Mine has 96201 on the clock, never heard a noise like that before. Any search the fourms on here yet? Im gona in a bit, and see what i can drag up.