2012 Jeep Wrangler: Siren Song
August 31, 2012
It wasn't that loud at first, but in recent days our 2012 Jeep Wrangler's whining accessory drive noise has become unbearable. At this point it sounds like an electric car with open headers.
A serpentine belt at the front of the Pentastar V6 drives the air conditioning compressor, the power steering pump and the alternator. Probably a water pump in there, too, and I'm sure there's and idler pulley and a tensioner.
It could be the bearings of any of those.
For the moment I'm ruling out the A/C and the steering, because the noise doesn't change as those devices apply their variable loads to the system. I'm betting on alternator, based on the fact that the location of the alternator and the noise are pretty much the same.
We're still under warranty, so I'm off to the dealer to let someone else handle it. No point in a DIY when a presumably free repair is waiting there.
Dan Edmunds, Director of Vehicle Testing @ 19,705 miles
