My 2003 Ford Ranger XLT FFV V6 has been chirping when I accelerate, generally louder the quicker I accelerate. It stops when I am not touching the gas pedal (coasting). It does not chirp in reverse. Any ideas?
How does the serpentine belt look? Many cracks?
Hi Barkydog,
The serpentine belt was just replaced a few months ago and appears to have no issues.
My fear is that it is the camshaft synchro again. I had it replaced about 1.5 years ago when it started chirping and learned this engine has issues with it. I just can’t remember what the symptoms are to diagnose it. What do you think?
Check the driver side motor mount. Position the truck against an immovable object, shift to D, open the hood and watch the engine while an assistant revs the engine (<2,000 RPM). If it lifts up on the driver side the mount is failing and the fan is likely dragging the fan shroud.
Rod Knox,
I will check this out. Thanks for the tip.
Would this problem appear suddenly? This chirping just started occurring out of nowhere. It did not gradually get worse.
Thanks!
A motor mount usually degrades slowly over the years but goes unnoticed until some symptom such as yours brings attention to it. There are several possible causes for your noise but I mentioned the mount because it is so easily tested and a possible catastrophic failure if it lets go totally. But that is very unlikely these days. motor mounts seem to have fail safes built into them.
Miraculously, the sound has disappeared. I drove all the way home (25 minutes) with no noise. Very odd…