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Squeaky scream

My wife's 53,000 mile, 2006 Toyota Landcruiser LC5 has made a squeaking / rubbing noise when starting from cold for the past couple of years. (The noise stops within about 2 minutes of driving it). At the last service I mentioned this to Toyota and they said it was the exposed belt at the front of the engine and put chalk onto the belt. The noise came back within a couple of days. The car has been parked in a garage for 3 weeks. It started fine with no noise for 3 days on the trot, then on the fourth the noise it used to make has turned into more of a screech - but not continuously: just as the engine turned faster as the revs get higher. This belt runs the waterpump, alternator and I think power steering from what I can see. Could one of these be about to fail or is it more likely to be one of the tensioners? The noise still goes after about 2 minutes of driving. At the next 60k service I plan to have the timing belt replaced. Should I have anything else done to try and stop this noise at start-up?

Asked on 9 October 2011 by JD, via email

Answered by Honest John
If you plan to have the timing belt changed at the next service, then also change all the jockey pulleys, the belt tensioner and the waterpump. You need to do this anyway. If you still have a noise after that, then, might be the alternator, PAS pump or a/c pump, which are all driven by an auxiliary belt. Listening to a dowel rod held on these components usually helps to find which one has the problem. But obviously be very careful poking a dowel rod into an engine’s moving parts.
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