Whipple Making Noise, please help me to ID it


paul b

GT Owner
Nov 2, 2006
810
Gee, I wonder if it could be defective bolts holding the pulley to the hub? Nah.
 

Empty Pockets

ex-GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Oct 18, 2006
1,361
Washington State
Hey, Bruce, did you send Dustin the vid?
 

Pantera1

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Feb 12, 2008
281
Iowa
Watching and listening it appears the squeal occurs at the exact moment as the imprint on the belt is over the pulley.....could there be imperfections behind that area of the belt? The water test may work....good luck
 

HeritageBruce

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Mar 13, 2006
748
Southern CA
Thanks for all the input guys and sorry for the late reply as I had my carpet replaced at the house and didn't have Internet access for two days.
I like the idea of the soap test but I put away all the soap because the carpet install, fortunately I always carry a tube of KY in my "back" pocket. Maybe I'll give that a try. :eek
Seriously, I have contacted Dustin and he was very quick to get back to me in saying...
"As for the noise, it could be a bearing in one of the idler pulley’s or the front drive. If it’s inside the SC, it normally is bad at idle as well because the rotors have too much play, and rattle around. I would remove belt, turn idler pulley bearings by hand. It may not be the SC itself. It could even be an idler pulley or something else in the accessory drive system."
I'll soap (or KY) my gal's belts after some order is restored at the house and see what happens next.
 

tpraceman

THEE GT OWNER
Mark II Lifetime
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Feb 20, 2006
2,835
Washington Michigan
If you have room and trust yourself to be safe.

When looking for any engine noise this age old trick works great.

Take a long rod (I use a 18" 1/2" extention or large screw driver).
Grab one end in your hand and place the other on the pulley or near it on the bracket or motor, and the other end against your ear. Try it first on the valve cover to get the feel. You will be suprised how much you will hear.

Takes all of one minute to find any noise and where it is comming from with no guess work.
 

BlackICE

GT Owner
Nov 2, 2005
1,416
SF Bay Area in California
If you have room and trust yourself to be safe.

When looking for any engine noise this age old trick works great.

Take a long rod (I use a 18" 1/2" extention or large screw driver).
Grab one end in your hand and place the other on the pulley or near it on the bracket or motor, and the other end against your ear.

These work a little better and as cheap as $1.99!

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http://search.harborfreight.com/cpisearch/web/search.do?keyword=stethoscope
 

fjpikul

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Jan 4, 2006
11,503
Belleville, IL
Ice, you must work with a lot of needle-d**ked bug f**kers.
 

Gierkink

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Oct 5, 2005
672
Wellington, FL
I've always used chalk for this. It also works like a champ...

So let me get this straight… not only did EP never drive his car he also “chalked” his tires (tyres for Neilda) to ensure that the car didn’t move in his absence. I should have bought that car!

Rob
 

BlackICE

GT Owner
Nov 2, 2005
1,416
SF Bay Area in California
Ice, you must work with a lot of needle-d**ked bug f**kers.

I don't know anything about that application, but it sounds like it would hurt! However it appears you have 1st hand experience with off label use of this equipment.
 

soroush

Ford Gt Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Aug 8, 2007
5,256
ok Im reviving this thread because my whipple(that i installed last week) is doing the exact same thing, was some kind of solution found to fix the chirping, mine is real bad and its annoying the hell out me, help please, Ive called dustin and sent him a video of it, no call back yet, I will call him again tomorrow. thanx

soroush
 

HeritageBruce

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Mar 13, 2006
748
Southern CA
Just a quick update on the Whipple... I've waiting to get a fire suppression system installed at Kendall's and then have him look at the problem with the chirping sound also. Hopefully we'll find the cricket next week.
Soroush,
How long have you been driving the car with the chirping sound? I don't know if it is a good idea to put too many (hard) miles on the engine if the supercharger is not performaning properly. I wonder if there's a chance for the AFR to get messed up in our case???
 
Aug 25, 2006
4,436
Just a quick update on the Whipple... I've waiting to get a fire suppression system installed at Kendall's and then have him look at the problem with the chirping sound also. Hopefully we'll find the cricket next week.
Soroush,
How long have you been driving the car with the chirping sound? I don't know if it is a good idea to put too many (hard) miles on the engine if the supercharger is not performaning properly. I wonder if there's a chance for the AFR to get messed up in our case???

Thank you for the update as it remains a work in progress

As for the AFR's being a concern; no and I share this for a variety of reasons

Please let us know what you find

All the best

Shadowman
 

Kingman

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Aug 11, 2006
4,072
Surf City, USA
I too have a chirping sound at start up. It eventually goes away after about 5-10 minutes, which I assume is enough time for warm up. The warm up I am alluding to is the belt, as the engine temp gauge has not reached the preferred temp yet. The chirping does not return each and every time I start up...just the first time each day.

I also got this same chirping not to long after I first purchased the ride. I brought it to the dealership and they changed out the serpentine belt. That 'fixed' the chirping up until recently - I say for about 10 months/3500 miles.

After the return of the chirp, as per the suggestion of Shadowman, I soaped my belt. The noise dissipated faster...though I still get the chirping at start up each day.

I also should include that the chirping I am speaking of does NOT sound like the video included in the original post for this thread. That one sounds mechanical to me (the expert mechanic that I am).

I spoke with Shadowman about this, he suggested further monitoring. One conjecture is that the belt may be 'seating/flat spotting' per se over the night.

I will continue to post progress on my end. I will look for further suggestions from the forum.
 
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HeritageBruce

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Mar 13, 2006
748
Southern CA
I too have a chirping sound at start up. It eventually goes away after about 5-10 minutes, which I assume is enough time for warm up. The warm up I am alluding to is the belt, as the engine temp gauge has not reached the preferred temp yet. The chirping does not return each and every time I start up...just the first time each day.

My chirping sound comes out AFTER the car is warmed up. There's no sound when the engine is cold. So could it be that the heat expanded the belt a little more pass the max. tolerance and then it started chirping? But I have to say the sound is more mechanical and metallic like some kind of shaft or bearing rotating without proper lubrication. I tried using a statiscope to locate the source of the sound but just didn't want to go past the pane of the belts so I couldn't locate the source of the sound for sure. Will try the soap and/or water test this weekend and keep all posted. Time to go to bed now.....
 

soroush

Ford Gt Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Aug 8, 2007
5,256
My chirping sound comes out AFTER the car is warmed up. There's no sound when the engine is cold. So could it be that the heat expanded the belt a little more pass the max. tolerance and then it started chirping? But I have to say the sound is more mechanical and metallic like some kind of shaft or bearing rotating without proper lubrication. I tried using a statiscope to locate the source of the sound but just didn't want to go past the pane of the belts so I couldn't locate the source of the sound for sure. Will try the soap and/or water test this weekend and keep all posted. Time to go to bed now.....


I also will be messing around with the belt this weekend to see if I can eliminate the belt as the possible source of the chirping. I add that my chirping starts as soon as I start the car and its loud, once the car warms up a little the chirping becomes less noticable at idle only, but past 2000 rpm comes back again(noticable), as of right now I spoke with dustin and he plans to send me a new compressor housing to try, I hope that will solve the problem, I will keep you posted.
 

paul b

GT Owner
Nov 2, 2006
810
Try pressing your palm on top of the supercharger body when cold and you hear the noise. If the noise goes away we may all be sharing a common problem.
 

Kingman

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Aug 11, 2006
4,072
Surf City, USA
Latest observation:
As usual the chirping started this morning. I drive away very cautiously while waiting for temps to climb.

Nonetheless, just after pulling away I received a call on my cell so I pulled to the side about 100 yards away from the garage. The car is left running with the clutch disengaged and in neutral.

While talking I push in the clutch pedal (though not engaging) and the chirping stops altogether. Hmmmm.

I rev the engine a bit and the chirping resumes.

I let the engine idle...and the chirping continues. I again depress the clutch pedal (though not engaging) and the chirping goes away.

This leads me to believe that it may not have anything to do with the serpentine belt.

Thoughts?
 

Whipple Charged

Well-known member
Dec 9, 2005
106
If the sound is coming from the SC, it will not hurt the SC, you are not going to damage the SC because of the "chirp". A constant bearing squeal is bad, but we have never lost a bearing in a Ford GT and the SC's are very near bullet proof.

Again, if the SC is in fact making a chirping noise, then it's in the rear bearings. The rear bearings are designed to "float" in their bore, and they have dual teflon strips around the outer race. If the bearing does not float for whatever reason, then it's possible that it will make this slight chirp noise at low blower speeds, most commonly idle. To try and explain the noise I'm describing is something like (at idle), chrip.......chirp chirp.......chirp..chrip....chirp..chirp...chrip........... and then goes away once the sc is warm.

If someone is having a consistent sound, such as the "chirp", then you are more than welcome to call us, get a RGA #, send us the SC, and we will disassemble, inspect and repair whatever is making the noise. If you want to email for the RGA#, then you can email me @ dustin@whipplesuperchargers.com. Again, this hurts nothing in performance, reliability or durability.

Thanks,
Dustin
 

Empty Pockets

ex-GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Oct 18, 2006
1,361
Washington State
Latest observation:
As usual the chirping started this morning. I drive away very cautiously while waiting for temps to climb.

Nonetheless, just after pulling away I received a call on my cell so I pulled to the side about 100 yards away from the garage. The car is left running with the clutch disengaged and in neutral.

While talking I push in the clutch pedal (though not engaging) and the chirping stops altogether. Hmmmm.

I rev the engine a bit and the chirping resumes.

I let the engine idle...and the chirping continues. I again depress the clutch pedal (though not engaging) and the chirping goes away.

This leads me to believe that it may not have anything to do with the serpentine belt.

Thoughts?



eeeeeeeeeeow! Could wez be talkin' 'bout a throwout bearing in your particular case, then? Otherwise, what would pushing the clutch pedal in have to do with stopping the the blower drive belt noise???

(I'd include the pilot bearing in the "hunt" to, just because your car could have unknowingly had a bad one of EITHER installed when built...it just might have taken a while to show up. Stuff like that DOES happen.)
 
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shelbyelite

PERMANENTLY BANNED
May 10, 2007
1
Just kill all the BIRDS trapped in the engine compartment and Voilà. Chirp is gone! :rofl