# Waterpump noise **URL:** \ **Category:** General Discussion\ **Created:** [April 20, 2014, 6:23am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/waterpump-noise/84675 "2014-04-20T06:23:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Stoveguyy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Stoveguyy](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Stoveguyy)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2014, 6:23am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/waterpump-noise/84675/1 "2014-04-20T06:23:01Z")
My waterpump is leaking. And my motor makes a chirping sound in the wp area. But I think the alternator might be making that noise. The wp and alt are very close to each other. . It is fairly quiet when motor is cold but gets constant when motor is warm. Do wps make chirping sounds when they fail? ---
**Author:** ![pleasedodgevan2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ad7895/32.png) [@pleasedodgevan2](https://community.cartalk.com/u/pleasedodgevan2)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2014, 7:36am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/waterpump-noise/84675/2 "2014-04-20T07:36:04Z")
Sometimes, maybe they do but usually it’s the alternator. Make your own stethoscope and check. About a 10" piece of steel rod and two feet of vacuum hose and you have it. Touch the steel rod to the alternator and listen to the end of the hose. Same for the water pump. You’ll know. ---
**Author:** ![the\_same\_mountainbike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@the\_same\_mountainbike](https://community.cartalk.com/u/the_same_mountainbike)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2014, 7:47am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/waterpump-noise/84675/3 "2014-04-20T07:47:14Z")
Um, what is the year, make, model, and engine, and how many miles are on the vehicle? ---
**Author:** ![oblivion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3ab097/32.png) [@oblivion](https://community.cartalk.com/u/oblivion)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2014, 3:17pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/waterpump-noise/84675/4 "2014-04-20T15:17:44Z")
Well if the water pump is leaking anyway, might as well replace it first. It’s not going to get any better. ---
**Author:** ![PvtPublic](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/pvtpublic/32/13089_2.png) [@PvtPublic](https://community.cartalk.com/u/PvtPublic)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2014, 6:30pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/waterpump-noise/84675/5 "2014-04-20T18:30:00Z")
Any thing that has a bearing of some type can make a chirping sound. And I agree with oblivion, if it is leaking anyways replace it. ---
**Author:** ![cigroller](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c68b51/32.png) [@cigroller](https://community.cartalk.com/u/cigroller)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2014, 6:58pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/waterpump-noise/84675/6 "2014-04-20T18:58:27Z")
Well, as noted, just do the water pump. If you want the car reliably on the road then it has to be done. Not knowing the vehicle’s info makes it impossible to know for sure. But if you really need to know you can probably pull whatever belt runs the alternator and run the car for a little while. You can’t do this for long and you have to make sure there is a full charge on the battery. But it will take the alternator out of the picture temporarily. ---
**Author:** ![missileman](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/missileman/32/1366_2.png) [@missileman](https://community.cartalk.com/u/missileman)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2014, 9:03pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/waterpump-noise/84675/7 "2014-04-20T21:03:30Z")
The noise is inconsequential if the water pump is leaking. Once it’s leaks…it needs to be replace as already mentioned previously. ---
**Author:** ![asemaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@asemaster](https://community.cartalk.com/u/asemaster)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2014, 9:18pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/waterpump-noise/84675/8 "2014-04-20T21:18:26Z")
Could be the belt just worn and noisy, could be some coolant leaking on the belt making it squeak (it doesn’t take much), could be a noisy alternator bearing, or some combo of these three. But if the water pump is leaking it needs to be replaced ASAP anyway. Throw a pump and belt on the car and see what happens. ---
**Author:** ![rattlegas](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/rattlegas/32/2857_2.png) [@rattlegas](https://community.cartalk.com/u/rattlegas)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2014, 2:04am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/waterpump-noise/84675/9 "2014-04-21T02:04:52Z")
Antifreeze on the drive belt will make it noisy. ---
**Author:** ![bing](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/bing/32/4619_2.png) [@bing](https://community.cartalk.com/u/bing)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2014, 6:10am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/waterpump-noise/84675/10 "2014-04-21T06:10:54Z")
My water pump neither leaked or chirped but the bearing on the 3.8 was worn enough to keep throwing the belt off. Something else to worry about. ---
**Author:** ![George\_San\_Jose1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e5b9ba/32.png) [@George\_San\_Jose1](https://community.cartalk.com/u/George_San_Jose1)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2014, 3:22am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/waterpump-noise/84675/11 "2014-04-22T03:22:01Z")
Listening through a length of garden hose would probably tell you which one was causing the noise. As mentioned above, when a WP starts to leak, it usually isn’t far away from completely failing and leaking all the coolant out. To avoid this happening one day on the freeway and needing to pay for a tow home – or worse, a tow and a new head gasket – good idea to replace the WP with due speed. ---
**Author:** ![Stoveguyy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Stoveguyy](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Stoveguyy)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2014, 4:14am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/waterpump-noise/84675/12 "2014-04-22T04:14:25Z")
Taurus 3.0 Vulcan. Seems timing cover leaks are common. WP bearing is slightly loose. Wp is not leaking though. Coolant on serp belt is causing squeak. Front cover gasket is 5hr job.