Volvo 940 - belt whistle/whine
 

Hi All,

Over last couple of days she's started making a whistle/whine on tickover. Can't hear when you're actually driving along and it doesn't increase in volume as you accelerate.

Pretty sure belts were changed less than 10k miles back according to a sticker in engine bay. Could it just be something that needs a spray of WD40? Sure it must be a common enough sound as I know I've heard some older cars make similar when sat in traffic ticking over.

Cheers
Craig

The topic entitled '1998 940 Celebration engine squeal', on 31 December 2016, may answer your question (I've never worked out how to attach links on this site).

I narrowed the chirping down to the power steering belt by chucking a cup of water on it; noise stopped immediately. Providing you have the correct belt (not always the case) Lee Parry gave details of the worn bracket which causes the noise.

Just copy and paste! No arcane magic to it unless you want to embed it in text.

Will sprayed some on the pulley nut here.....believe don't to be power steering pump? And instant silence. Will the silence last?! 😬

Checked the 2 belts I have and no sign of cracking / serious wear. If anything the belt on the pas pump might be a little slacker than the alternator belt.

Cheers
Craig

Hi cjboddy and fellow squeaky belt sufferers.

The link to the previous thread, to which I added a few points and links to previous posts, is here:

http://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=260952

As an update I am still having problems with my AC belt and there seems no way to fix this using either new brackets (as power steering pump) or supporting bushes (as alternator). I know you are not supposed to put oil or grease on the belts as this will deteriorate them so I invested in a tube of silicone grease ex ebay (I needed some for the roof seals on the MG anyway). I put a thin smear on the outside edge of the AC belt a few days ago and has lasted so far without any noise returning. Will keep you posted if the blessed silence continues.

Cheers,

LeeP

You can also get belt dressing in a aerosol. It makes the belt slightly sticky which improves grip and helps to silence it.

Alasdair

Had a loud squeal at tickover on my 940 2.3 lpt.
Traced it to the air con belt.
Annoyingly, I have problems getting the air con compressor tight enough to stop moving on its' mounts.
This causes a groaning noise and some vibration when turning right.
The mounts don't seem loose, and are awkward to get to.

The whine you hear, is it inconsistent with acceleration? I have a whine in my 1992 940 and it sounds like its coming somewhere from behind the passenger side of the dash. The sound is like there is a ghost whining in my dash! Varying in pitch up and down. Anyone have this sound?

Well at least I don't have aircon issues to worry about ....I just open the window :o)

spraying some lube on the PAS pump pulley seemed to last a couple of days. the whine/whistle is back now. I imagine it could increase with speed but you can't hear when you are travelling faster.

Strange how oiling the pulley does sort it for a few days though ...... does this mean the PAS pump is the problem?

Cheers
Craig

No. A close read of Lee's original post (as linked) would have explained the reason; here's a sample, cut and pasted :):

My first issue was with the power steering pump belt. I eventually worked out that the belt was misaligned. Looking down on the water pump pulley from above you could see it was not sitting squarely in the V grove. This is a known fault due to wear in the bracket that supports the power steering pump and there is a useful reference in the 940 FQA section:

http://www.volvoclub.org.uk/faq/Stee...teeringBracket