strange and worrisome noise

[rogerh]

Figured I'd better take this to a new thread:
The brakes aren't dragging. The parking brake just barely holds.
The occasional "noise" comes from the area of the engine bay or the tranny. With respect to straight-line highway driving, the car does fine up to maybe 55 mph, although the cooling fan or something else makes the car sound like a turbine car....but if I exceed 55 for a length of time, there occasionally is a quick change in sound, as if my ears popped from an elevation change, and this somewhat metallic scraping sound starts. There is no change in performance. The sound goes away fairly quickly if I slow down, or more slowly (less than a minute) if I maintain that speed. This makes me think of a pump starved for fluid at high speeds, but I could very well be inadverdantly misleading everyone with this assumption. The tranny is tooped up on fluids, fluid color is good and smells good, no tranny slippage. The generator is a rebuilt unit; I did add some oil to it just in case. The p/s reservoir is up to the line. The radiator is good. I have a factory a/c partially installed, so the compressor is hooked up to the fanbelts. Maybe it's the compressor clutch? I know nothing about a/c...thought the compressor would just spin freely with no Freon IN, and no power TO the system.......??.

[rogerh]

it could also be an idler pulley, and the harmonic balancer looks kinda wobbly.

[Nighthawk]

That could be the A-C compressor, if you can disconnect the drive belts to it and take it for a run, you may see that is it, AC compressors can still make that noise even if has no power going to it.

Bob

[RICKYMOPAR]

Just wondering... If you have a cooling fan clutch system? The factory installed these on A/C engines. Sometimes they make some really unusual noises when they are failing.

[rogerh]

I just returned safely from a 250 mile round trip to Ellensburg, WA. Prior to starting out, I put a few drops of oil on the idler pulley and I did not hear any"spun bearing/starved ppump" noise for the entire trip. However, my daughter had her iPod plugged into the radio and her music effectively masked most noises!
I am unable to "un-belt" the compressor, as the same belt drives the p/s, which was mostly empty when I arrived in Ellensburg.
The following day we all went on a 90 mile road tour, during which the car began pulling very hard to the left upon braking. As I drove back to the motel on a winding 2 lane road, river on one side and rock face on the other, the brakes failed completely. Fortunately the traffic was light and I did not panic, I just slowed down and drove back to the motel using what's left of the E-brake to stop. The next day we pulled the wheel and saw the upper passenger cylinder had failed. A fellow club member chose to stay and help me source parts in town, but nobody had the parts. When the rest of the club returned, someone made a phone call to a late-arriving member (Jeff Carter) and he brought me the part I needed!
Car got put back together, however in bleeding the brakes, enough fluid spilled to make the brake lights stop working.
Various other issues with the car were noted as the Meet progressed, but Show Day was sunny and very warm and we had 44 cars on display. I parked next to Tom Fox's Belvedere cvt. Tom was quite focused on the odd angle at which my car sets, even with rear lowering blocks installed, and we finally had an epiphany...the rear leaf springs are clearly wrong! So I must add yet one more item to add to my wish list...a correct set of leaf springs!
The drive home was uneventful, other than an increasing roughness in the engine.

[rogerh]

To RickyMopar, I do not have a clutch-fan (no room!) in the Plymouth, however I have one in my 2000 Dodge truck, which failed quietly and was replaced by a unit that makes a roaring turbine sound!

[RICKYMOPAR]

The fan clutch should only make noise on fire up and during high temp. operation. highway speed should be able to force enough air through everything needing heat removal. the fan should be idling and almost silent.

[rogerh]

Thanks for the info.The repair shop screwed me two or three times over, including installing this bogus fan. The fan is noisiest upon acceleration and hill-climbing. They were engaged initially to replace the heater core, necessitating removal of the entire dash and disconnecting the a/c. After they were done I had NO heat. They then put in the "correct" themostat and I had heat, for awhile. Now I get a little heat, which builds while driving, but can't be shut off. The a/c doesnt work at all. The business got sold to new owners soon afterward. I refuse to go back for any reason.

[Fins59]

Roger - Regarding your rear leaf springs: this is my experience with rear springs. When I was a kid and had a '59 SF I broke rear leafs on 2 or 3 occasions.
When I bought my '59 4-dr Fury about 12 years ago I noticed a broken leaf on one side. (It's still broken).
When I bought my '59 Sport Fury about 11 years ago I noticed the rear springs were pretty well flattened and car sat low.
When I bought my '59 parts car about 10 years ago I noticed (with great happiness) the rear springs looked strong and car sat properly.

Needless to say I removed rear springs from parts car and put them on SF. Car rides good and the stance is good. So far after 10 years, no problems.
One thing I noticed though is the old SF springs were 5 leaf and the 4-dr Fury is 5 leaf. Parts car springs (which are now on my SF) contain 6 leafs. I'm thinking maybe these are station wagon springs??. So maybe if you are buying new springs, check into the 6 leaf.

[rogerh]

I hear you, but first I will try the 5-leaf springs, as I found a 1963 Plymouth in a salvage yard 60 miles from here. I will have to remove them myself, but I save on shipping costs!
At this moment, I do not know where to find a station wagon donor within driving distance.