2001 Sable - front end squeal

[nanachel]

My Sable has developed a squeal in the front end. It sounds as if it is coming from the left side. When the squeal first started, it was only occasionally. Now it is constantly and there is also a noise that sounds somewhat like a sewing machine. Now that cold weather is here, if it is below 40, the noise doesn't start until the car is warmed up. If weather is warm, squeal starts immediately. If you have any ideas, please help!
Thanks!!!!

[burrelld]

Originally Posted by nanachel

My Sable has developed a squeal in the front end. It sounds as if it is coming from the left side. When the squeal first started, it was only occasionally. Now it is constantly and there is also a noise that sounds somewhat like a sewing machine. Now that cold weather is here, if it is below 40, the noise doesn't start until the car is warmed up. If weather is warm, squeal starts immediately. If you have any ideas, please help!
Thanks!!!!

Right off the bat, it sounds to me as though you have a bad or loose belt that is slipping. When a belt is too loose, as it gets hotter it slips and squeals more. But both Ford and Mercurys have a automatic spring tentioner for their belt setup, so normally if the belt is bad it will shred or break first.

If it isn't the belt, then check three other items.

Is the noise coming from the engine or the suspension ? If the noise is constant when the car is parked and the engine is running, it is normally one of three items. In a Mercury Sable, I'd suspect the water punp first, the power steering pump second, and then the alternator.

In your case, most likely its the water pump. If the power steering pump has a bearing going out, you first hear the squeal when you turn the steering wheel hard right or left, whereas a water pump's squeal sometimes depends upon temperture variation.

BUT, if the power steering pump's bearing is real bad, it will squeal when you first start the car and slacken off as the car warms up, without you even touching the steering wheel.

If the noise is happening only when you are stopped and the engine is running, a quick way to "center in" on the problem unit is to get a short length of rubber hose, stuff a funnel in one end and put the other end up to your ear while pointing the funnel end at the suspected problem unit.

[burrelld]

Originally Posted by burrelld

Right off the bat, it sounds to me as though you have a bad or loose belt that is slipping. When a belt is too loose, as it gets hotter it slips and squeals more. .

As a added note, concerning my own experience with both a 1988 and a 1996 Mercury Sable, both times on the two different cars that I've started having a "squeal" come from the engine compartment it was the power steering unit.

On the 1988 Sable, the squeal started as I was driving the car in southern California, about 260 miles away from home, and about 20 minutes later after the noise started, the power steering pump self destructed just as I was pulling into a gas station. That cost me over $243.00 to have repaired so that I could drive back home.

The 1996 Mercury Sable started making the noise as my wife was pulling out of our driveway. So I had her pull the Sable back in and had her take my Mercedes while I checked her car out. It was the power steering unit again. I replaced it myself for the cost of the unit, which was less than $80.00 from Pep Boys here in Reno, Nevada.