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'98 Frontier 4WD - several noises

Problems again. My air conditioning compressor has been making several noises. When the weather is wet it sounds like the motor from one of those big industrial refrigerators. That noise is the same regardless of whether the I have the air cond turned on or not. Then at times it makes the noise of a pepper grinder running at 1000rpm. Still at other times it makes a light knocking sound which increases if I actually turn the air conditioning on. Even stranger, my power steering pump also makes some whistling noise and the alternator also makes a similar noise. What is going on? Is this one and the same problem or 3 problems? I have checked the tension on the belts and they are not overtight. Sometimes in the summer, I can hear the air conditioning belt slipping for a split second once every minute or so as the compressor engages and disengages while the air conditioner is on.

Reply to
ThomasE
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Today I removed all the belts and indeed without any belts the engine is very quiet. I only run the engine this way for 30seconds though because, of course, without belts the water pump was also not running. Then I added the 3 belts back one by one and the noises also returned one by one. Adding the alternator/water pump belt added a chirping/hissing sound, which seemed to be coming from the alternator. Adding the air conditioner belt added that ?old refrigerator? and light knocking sound and finally adding the power steering belt added another chirping sound.?!

Another strange thing is that with the belts off I inspected the rotation of all the pulleys. There does not seem to be any play in any of the axes and bearings (air cond pump/alternator/power steering pump and pulleys and water pump). Also when I rotate the axles by hand the operation seems very quiet and smooth ???!

The truck has 72K miles.

Reply to
ThomasE

Yesterday I bought a ?belt quieting? spray and applied it on all the belts, I was able to spray the power steering and air conditioning belts while the engine was running but I had to turn the engine off to spray the water pump/alternator belt. The noises did not go away, although there was a small (I underscore small) change in the noise pitch. Then when I restarted the engine a few hours later, the noise(s) were more pronounced but that could have been a coincidence since just as the noises started gradually from nothing, I expect them to get worse with time. So I?m still puzzled. It?s really difficult to determine where the noises are coming from although it seems that the hissing sound comes from the direction of the alternator, the chirping sound from the power steering pump and the knocking sound from the air conditioning compressor, does this make any sense?

Oh yes, BTW there has been another unrelated noise that I?ve had for a while now. When I make a close left turn with the steering wheel almost completely turned and I simultaneously happen to hit a bump, I very briefly hear this very loud screeching noise which does not sound good at all. Seems to be coming from the right front wheel. I?ve ignored it and just stopped taking close left turns if there are bumps, however any advice on that would be appreciated. I had once taken the truck in at the dealership and they told me that they lubricated something and the noise stopped for about 3-4 months but then reappeared.

Reply to
ThomasE

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