Chirping noise coming from engine

[g spot]

On Sunday I replaced my power steering pump and the high pressure hoses. Should have been a pretty straightforward job and it was for the most part.

When I restarted my 2004 Tahoe (5.3) after I had purged the air from the PS system, I was getting a chirping noise. The chirping noise is pretty loud and occurs more frequently when you rev up the engine. I initially thought it was coming from the PS pump so went thru the procedures again to purge the air.

Still had the issue, so I decided to unhook the belts to isolate the noise. Still had the issue, so realized it wasn't the new PS pump.

Last night I realized that the noise is actually coming from the left side (passenger side) of the engine. Now I'm scratching my head pretty good. Could it be a stuck lifter? Seems completely unrelated to my PS projected, however maybe I didn't notice this noise before (unlikely) or could I have caused an issue during the air purge process? One of the web tutorials stuggested to pull the fuel pump fuse and crank the engine over a few times to ensure I get fluid thru the hydro booster, which I did for 15 seconds. Could that have caused this type of issue?

I'm outside of my comfort zone on this one and debating about taking it to the dreaded shop.

Do you have any ideas of what I should check or look for?

It's a 2004 Tahoe (5.3) with 170k miles.

Thank you.

 

[Danny3737]

Sounds like a belt or pulley

 

[Tonyrodz]

Did you also unhook the ac belt? It's on the passenger side.

 

[g spot]

Yes, removed both belts, so it is not a belt or accessory.

 

[Danny3737]

The next step would be trying to use a stethoscope or sometimes a piece of tubing will work to try to narrow down the area of the squeak. Sometimes they sound like they are coming from a certain place, when it's actually someplace else. Good Luck

 

[Kenny D]

I had a chirping on my 99 Burb with the 5.7. It stopped chirping when the belt tensioner pulley shattered due to a frozen bearing.

I'd check that.

 

[pnwdan]

I know you said you removed the belts and it still did it but I know this sound. I trouble shot mine for a whole weekend. Your power steering pulley isn't aligned to the rest. as the belt comes off the ribbed pulley of the PS pump and across the water pump it has to "scoot" over to align with the next ribbed pulley. the scooting over across the smooth water pump pulley makes the chirp noise.

 

[g spot]

I know you said you removed the belts and it still did it but I know this sound. I trouble shot mine for a whole weekend. Your power steering pulley isn't aligned to the rest. as the belt comes off the ribbed pulley of the PS pump and across the water pump it has to "scoot" over to align with the next ribbed pulley. the scooting over across the smooth water pump pulley makes the chirp noise.

So why would it make a noise when the belts aren't on?

 

[g spot]

Thought I'd share what I've learned after taking it to two shops. They both say it's a bearing on the crank so I guess I'm SOL.

Thinking of purchasing a used 5.3 and doing the swap myself. How hard is it to separate the engine from the tranny? Are there special procedures to get it lined back up correctly? Any good resources that others have used when doing an engine swap?

 

[Danny3737]

That sucks, can't say that I've ever heard a crank bearing chirp before.