Delica Canada | Mitsubishi Van Club

I recorded this sound...https://soundcloud.com/dead_eskimo/delica-schreech It started this morning afaik. Was worse before I recorded it. You can here that the sound is coming from fan pulley area when you put your ear close...and you can hear it stops when the fan stops spinning on the audio.
Any thought? I'm inclined not to drive it.

Go to your local shop! Any tech can take a look and tell you exactly what it is!!!
It very difficult to diagnose or troubleshoot something that sounds normal...

But you can always check belt tension, atlernator mount if loose, ac idler... even the fan hub mounting 4x bolts! Ive seen some hub coming loose...

Nasty. That sounds very much like a bearing. My money's on the water pump or the alternator. (Have you perhaps recently tightened your alternator belts?)

Usually a failing bearing will get quieter when the engine warms up.

If you have a long screwdriver you might be able to use it as a budget stethoscope- press the metal end against the water pump, and the handle end against your ear. If the noise is coming from the water pump you'll know it, just try not to get your face (or the screwdriver) caught in the fan blades.

You can also listen to the alternator and aircon pump/pulley idler the same way.

Growlerbearnz wrote:Nasty. That sounds very much like a bearing. My money's on the water pump or the alternator. (Have you perhaps recently tightened your alternator belts?)

Usually a failing bearing will get quieter when the engine warms up.

If you have a long screwdriver you might be able to use it as a budget stethoscope- press the metal end against the water pump, and the handle end against your ear. If the noise is coming from the water pump you'll know it, just try not to get your face (or the screwdriver) caught in the fan blades.

You can also listen to the alternator and aircon pump/pulley idler the same way.

Yeah, nasty indeed. And that wasn't the worst of it. I was in a drive up ATM when I heard it bad last night. Amazing what sounds you can hear from your car in one of those enclosed areas at a bank. I went and bought a cheap auto stethoscope this morning. I drove the van this morning like normal and the sound was only loud enough to hear over the engine 1 or twice. I'm thinking about how I never run the AC but was asked (forced) by my wife to turn it on for the last half of the ride home from Blue Ridge ( about 30 min of AC run time on the highway..) and how the sound started right after that.
I'll go poke around the engine this afternoon and see what I hear. To my ears last night it sounded like it was in the double pully right behind the fan.

ChuckBlack wrote:Go to your local shop! Any tech can take a look and tell you exactly what it is!!!
It very difficult to diagnose or troubleshoot something that sounds normal...

But you can always check belt tension, atlernator mount if loose, ac idler... even the fan hub mounting 4x bolts! Ive seen some hub coming loose...

Funny enough Chuck, I met a local VW diesel mechanic in the O'reilly's parking lot because he was checking out the van. Told me to bring it by anytime 'cause he'd love to check it out. Mayhap i'll be taking him up on that offer..

So, after ten minutes sitting in the van with the new stethoscope, I turned on the AC {noise sightly returned} then turned off the AC and there it was. When I observed the AC Comp I noticed that the front piece with the three screws (magnetic clutch i'm thinking?) was rotating and rattling on it's own. I do believe I've solved the mystery. Looking into replacing the magnetic clutch now..

My initial search on finding just the clutch has proved frustrating. I can get the part from Mitsu with NO E.T.A. so it could be 3 weeks or 3 months to get it oh..and it's 500 bucks. Woof ! Alibaba has the clutch kit but only sells in lots of 10...(sounds like Mr Fox from Peppa Pig.. ). Aliexpress has what looks to be a whole compressor setup for 130. Might be the best way to get the replacement parts. My compressor works and I don't want to mess with the system until i rip out the cool box.

The front plate with the 3 screws (Armature) is the bit that drives the AC compressor. Behind it is the pulley with magnetic coil (Rotor and field coil). The rotor should be spinning all the time, the armature stationary. Turn on the AC and the coil pulls the armature into contact with the rotor, they lock together and you have AC.
So the armature was spinning even with the AC turned off? That's not right. I'd give it a good clean, there may be gunk built up in the tiny gap between them, especially if it's not been used much.

If the armature was spinning slower than the rotor when AC is turned on it could be a weak coil, dirt in the gap, or a failing, almost seized AC compressor. Or a failing bearing in the AC compressor...

I'd remove the AC compressor and check it out before ordering a new clutch. It's possible your clutch is fine, and it's the compressor that's failing.

Growler, I hope you're right about the filth and wrong about the compressor.. I'm gonna pull the belt for now and when I get time, pull the front assembly apart and clean it proper. I'm wondering if there is a possible match to the clutch in a domestic easy to get version. Maybe some other Mitsu's used the same compressor? I don't know but it's worth a shot.

Knowing Mitsubishi it's a fair bet that *everything* from the late '80s/early '90s used the same compressor. Still, while you're in there removing the belt, remove the idler pulley and check if it makes noise when you spin it, maybe also spin the compressor pulley and see if it's noisy.

I had a strange noise too around 6 years ago. It wasn't my compressor but an air conditioning problem. I took it to the a/c shop and it was low fluid and maybe a fuse that was bad. The a/c shuts off if there's not enough fluid in it I think. I'll check my older post