QuestionHey Roland:
Hey, about that shreiking sound when I but my foot on the break is this...I am noticing that it happends when the transmission is in drive. If I put it in park, reverse or any other gear, it stops. It gets very embarrasing. At stop lights, I have to put the car in neutral to make the sound stop. Is this a tranny problem? The tranny shifts and drives fine. If it is the belt tensioner, how come it doesn't do it all the time? They checked the clamp to the break canister and it is ok. I am thinking that it is the belt tensioner because at night the voltage gets kinda low when I break. When I have a turn signal on, the voltmeter gauge moves every time the blinker blink. (back and forth)
This is all a learning process for me. Any information would be great.-------------------------
Followup To
Question -
Hey Roland:
Kevin here again. I know you get many of questions, but you helped me out on my a/c problems, now I have a few more to throw at you. I have been noticing when I drive my Shadow for a long distance of time at night (headlamps being on), I am hearing a shreiking sound. The funny thing about it, it only happends at night or when I am using the a/c. The twist to this it, it only makes this loud embarrasing sound when I stop the car. (stoplights, drivethru, etc.) As soon as I take my foot off the breaks, it stops. I don't have to give it gas. When I park the car, no sound. Long as my foot is not on the breaks, no sound. As soon as I apply the breaks, the sheriking starts. It kinda sounds like a serpentine belt going bad. I don't think that is the problem though. I took it to a mechanic, but he couldn't duplicate the problem because the car wasn't driven long enough. He also indicated that both a/c and serpentine belts or fairly new. My friend suggests maybe the altenator? I do not know.
Second part: Sometime when I am driving my car, when I take the car out of park and into drive (and vice versa), it sounds like the tranny squeaks. It shifts ok, and everything, but the tranny sometimes squeaks. Sometimes when it shifts between gears, it makes a small quick squeak but it shifts into gear without any hesitation.
Third part: I took this car to the mechanic due to squeaking occuring when I roll over speed bumps. They replaced the struts. The squeaking still occurs. Now, they told me that I needed shocks also. But I am still hearing the squeaking when my front wheels roll over the speed bumps. Bushings maybe?
Fourth part: My Shadow runs a little warmer than I think it supposed to. It goes all the way up to the line before the H on the gauge. (city driving) On the highway, the gauge is in the normal (center or the line after the C) Also on city driving, when I have the a/c blowing, the gauge reads much cooler if I didnt use the a/c. I dont see any leaks. Thermostat? Coolant flush maybe?
I know this car probably sounds like a piece of crap, but it drives good. This Shadow is just my little work car to keep the miles off my good car, so I want it in tip-top condition. Just some small corrections that have to be made. ALL your help will be greatly appreciated and taken into consideration.
Thanks a million
-Kevin
Answer -
Hi Kevin,
The noise from holding the brake on may be due to a vacuum leak in the hose that supplies vacuum to the power brake cannister, so check the clamps at both ends of that hose. But in addition it could be due to either of the external belts drives, but I don't know why those would be related to the foot brake unless it is involved with the idle rpm being a variable factor in the slippage of those belts. I recall that you have the 3.0L engine, correct? But in any case, check the deflection of the a/c belt to be about 1/4" at a point midway between two pulley when you put 10 lb of force on the belt (use a straight edge and ruler to measure the deflection), adjust tensioner pulley as needed, and also verify that all three pulley are in the same plane to oneanother. The other belt is tensioned by a pulley and spring so it isn't adjustable, but verify that all the pulleys driven by the belt are in the same plane as well.
One last possibility is that an engine mount is wearing out and allowing some vibration of the engine that rubs two metal surfaces of the mount together when the drag of the automatic transmission changes when you apply or release the foot brake, so see if those mounts seem too loose by shifting in and out of gear with your foot on the brake and have a helper watch the engine for excessive movemement (or have the helper operate the brake and shift lever while you stand to the side and watch the reaction of the engine from the shifting in and out of gear both forward and reverse).
That might be source of the sound when you shift into and out of gear as well as use the brake or release it.
I suspect the creaking on going over speed bumps is due to a cracked weld(s) on the torque tube that is located inside the u-shaped REAR axle that is between the rear wheel backing plates. This is very common on the rear suspension of this era of Chrysler cars. You can try to eliminate it by going to a welder and asking them to add some metal to the welds at both ends of the torque tube which will often eliminate or minimize the noise. It is not worth replacing the assembly as it will not affect the safety of rear axle if the weld brakes; the new assembly is about $1,000 even if you could get it. So try the re-welding, they can probably reach about 1/2 way around the tube (the U channel gets in the way of any more than that) and it shouldn't cost more than their minimum labor charge of $25-35 do what they can with it. (It will creak even when the front wheels are the ones going over the bump at that moment due to the body undergoing flexing which is replected at the rear axle welds. You can often create the creaking sound by pushing down on one of the four corners of the car).
It is pretty normal for the temp gauge to vary between 1/4 and 3/4 scale, so I wouldn't worry about it being near H for a short time as long as it doesn't boil over, in which case you should stop and let it cool down and refill for lost coolant. The fact that it doesn't run H or C all the time shows that the thermostat is operating normally. It never hurts to flush the radiator once in a while to give you the full cooling capacity of the system and to reduce corrosion.
Let me know if you learn anything interesting by trying some of these ideas.
Roland
AnswerHi Kevin,
I would try to localize where the sound is coming from by using a thin rubber or plastic tube like a "stethiscope", holding one end at you ear and then directing the free end at various parts of the drivetrain to listen for where the sound is louder. That may help you to track down the cause. You should be able to distinguish the trans from the drive belt-driven devices. You will need a helper to hold the car in place, unless your parking brake will safely do that, while the engine is in gear and at idle so that it is squaking.
The observation of the voltage fluctuating when you use the turn signals does suggest that the alternator pulley may be slipping enough to drop the voltage down to that of the battery only with no contribution from the alternator. So point the hose at the various pulleys and see if any of the accessory units is the source or the tensioner pulley. If the sound is coming from the trans, see if you can localize it (bell housing or trans body).
Roland
