strange noise when extremely cold
 

I have a 95 accord 2.2 vtec and right now its 0 degrees outside with - 25 windchills. And I started my car up and I could hear a noise coming from near the belts. Sounds almost like a pulley but it will do it for a few minutes then stop then start again. After its warm its fine. Could it be the AC compressor or power stearing pump. Could the PS fluid be so cold and thick the pump is having a hard time pushing it it till its warm. Its on and off till its warm. Im just trying to narrow it down . This is the first time I've herd it. But its the first time this year its been this cold out. I don't know if anyone else has had a similar issue when its been extremely cold? Maby its the alternator. Brushes adjusting to warming up? I don't know. Its a new alternator this year.

Take a round short broom stick and put it on each of those parts that your talking about while the car is cold and running, you should be able to tell what part it is by listening to the broom stick.

New or old drive belts? Old belts get hardened with age, so maybe they're slipping just a bit when cold. If the belts are old, don't overtighten them just replace them.

They are last years belts and the timing belt is new this year. It stops after its warm. And it will do it for acouple seconds then stop. Sounds almost like a bad AC clutch pully kicking in and out. But there is not clutch pulley on my car. Could it be the AC compressor going bad? Or just too cold for some of the pullys. I know every Honda I've owned has always hated the cold weather. They act funny in the cold

I have an '09 V6 and have started hearing a quick noise at startup on very cold days. I say quick because I only hear it right at startup then it stops. Maybe for like a second sounds like possibly a belt to me after it's been running it doesn't do it again when I start it definitely cold related. Original belt with 56,000 miles.

DGP's 2009 should have a spring-loaded belt tensioner, so you can't tighten the belt. There's a pointer somewhere on that tensioner; as the belt stretches the pointer goes outside it's "proper" range.

Jroxz's 1995 has brackets & mounting bolts for tightening the belts. You can overtighten the belts and put too much load on the pulley bearings. I guess I'd try to judge the sound of slipping belt vs. howling bearing. I can't hear it from here, and if I could I might not get it right anyway. Remove the belts and spin all the pulleys by hand looking for looseness/wobbling and/or rough bearings. You might remove the belt in the evening then spin the pulleys in the morning when they're very cold??

You said there's no AC clutch pulley on the car? Then how can the AC compressor even come into play?

Funny timing for this thread just last night backing into the driveway and turning the wheel I could hear a distinct sound must of been power steering related. Never heard it before it's an extremely cold week here in the northeast however when I heard it that was after a 1/2 hour drive home from work so maybe that doesn't add up? Vehicles definitely hate single digit nights that's for sure. In the dead of winter I usually don't get to worked up over noises lots of them usually stop when the temps moderate.

stuff don't work as good when cold... rubber is everywhere in the engine and it don't like it. :/


Don't worry about it if it goes away after it warms up. Not considered a inpending part failure.

^^^ I'm with 1224