Noisy aircon fan XJR 308

[syncrov6]

I have an intermittant noise that I can best describe as a bird chirping coming from the front nearside. When I first heard it I thought the worst and that I needed a new front wheel bearing. Anyway I've had it checked out by a specialist who told me the bearing was fine (whew!) and the noise was coming from the air vents/fan. This does seem to be the case because when the noise starts if I switch off the aircon it goes away. Anyone know what I can do to silence this noise, other than drive without the aircon?

[syncrov6]

Been googling...it may be the alternator belt or surpentine belt? is there a way of checking this, maybe spraying some silicone on the belt to see if the noise goes away.

[SV8Predator]

Spray silicone on to a belt to make it grip more???

What about turpentine on the surpentine?

Please get someone to look at your car that knows a little about them.

[Hooli]

So is the noise from the belt or the vents? I'm confused.

Talc on the belts can stop squeals for a while as a test.

[syncrov6]

The noise is coming from behind the passenger side vent. it doesn't happen all the time, just intermittenly. Closing the vent or alterating the flaps doesn't make a difference. Turning off the aircon when the noise starts does silence it so seems to be aircon related, so maybe the alternator belt was a red herring.

[Jaguar steve]

The noise you describe suggests a bearing in the near side fan motor is running dry. Try running the fans at full speed for a couple of journies to see if this solves the problem. I had this on a previous xj but on the offside and cured it by drilling a 2mm hole in the bottom of the fan casing and spraying a few short bursts of wd40 inside with the fan running as slow as possible

[syncrov6]

Thanks Steve, I will take your advice about running the fans at full speed but with my DIY skills I'm less confident about tackling it with a drill!

[syncrov6]

It was such a beautiful day today that we went for a drive to the coast. The bird chorus kicked in after the first few miles so tinkered a bit with the settings and fan speeds.I found by switching off Auto and selecting the Screen/Feet vent button and adjusting the fan speed it silenced the noise for the return journey, except for the last mile before home. So not cured but much better than it was before. I am planning on driving down to the NEC next weekend so will see what happens then.