Rubbing noise going uphill.

[pleasestartnow]

Bit of a vague description I know but today we were travelling about 90km and about 20km into the journey as we were going up a long (Not steep) hill, travelling at about 50kmh there was a sudden loud noise that sounded like rubber rubbing off of something. Pulled in thinking it was the end of the holiday before it even starts.

Did a check as my initial thought was that it could be the alternator belt slipping as I had tightened it last week when it was really loose. It wasn't loose now,and no fluids leaking, temperature normal, can change through gears no bother. So nothing jumped out at me, van started up fine and we drove on withoit any unusual sounds, came to a steeper hill about 10km later and same sound reappeared so I took the foot off the accelerator completely and the noise stopped, put foot back on and the noise resumed, took my foot slightly off the accelerator and noise was less and then stopped (van was in motion while i did this). The van felt normal, sounded normal the rest of the journey. It only happened on those two hills, the rest of the journey was fairly flat or small hills and I couldn't recreate the sound by driving at different speeds or in different gears.

Any ideas what it could be?

[jrt]

One weekend I had a rotational noise that only happened when I went up two hills in the Peak District, it didn’t do it anywhere else. I thought I was imagining it.
It was the cv that needed the grease distributing inside the boot. The noise was more of a click though not a rubbing sound but maybe worth manipulating the shafts to move the grease or bung a bit more in. Check inner/outer bolts too.
David.

[pleasestartnow]

Will give them a check cheers for that, I brought spare cv joints and grease anyway in case but I will have a look.

The noise wasn't constant going up the hill, literally was going along grand then the noise and after stopping and checking there was no noise after restart. Then it came again on the second hill but disappeared after I slowed down, when I accelerated again it was gone. I will be paranoid now for the next few weeks listening for everysound and the girlfriend will kill me because of it haha. It wasn't the scream sound you would associate with a loose belt on startup either.

[pleasestartnow]

Checked there anyway and all bolts are there.
Not to sure about is there enough grease in the boot as I got a bit freaked about reading some of the posts relating to circlips flying off etc.

I actually onlny have replacement cv bearings with me not any other part. If it is like suggested is it possible to just slide down the boots, inner/outer and throw some grease in? I'm in this campsite till Friday so I have a bit of time but can't really afford to go taking things apart and not being able to put them back together without replacement parts I can't get/don't have.

[jrt]

Yes, or even get underneath and move the shaft to distribute the existing grease about.
David.

[silverbullet]

Engine squatting down on old soft mounts under load and causing a pulley to rub, maybe the crank pulley is close to the vertical bit of the silencer heatsheild?

[pleasestartnow]

Yes, or even get underneath and move the shaft to distribute the existing grease about.
David.

Cheers for that, I will get under tomorrow and see what I can do grease wise.

Engine squatting down on old soft mounts under load and causing a pulley to rub

I had a nose around the alternator belt to look for any signs of wear on other components and I can see that on the back side of the oil filler tube a section is nearly worn through. However, the belt was loose a week or so ago and had been for a while, but the van hadn't really been driven solidly in about 6 months so it could have happened then as now after adjusment I can't stretch the belt to meet the pipe or push the pipe to the belt. Maybe movement of the engine like you said got the belt caught on the lip of the worn section of filler pipe, I feel I'm clutching at straws eith that explanation though.

There was no change in the vans performance when the noise appeared, as in there was no loss of power etc.

[Mocki]

Is this sound road speed related, engine speed related or random?
Is it gear related ? Were you in the same gear when it happened ?

[pleasestartnow]

It's not gear related I say, I was in 4th when it first happened. The second time I was also in 5th and dropped down to 4th then 3rd as I slowed and it became less and less. However, the rest of the journey involved lots of roundabouts and going through villages so I wasconstantly between those gears and there was no repeat of the sound.

Similar with road speed and engine speed, I was doing about 50-55kmh going uphill and it just randomly appeared and did sound like something was rubbing but the first time it happened I was lucky there was a place to pull in which I did immediately, so I didn't really have time to analyse the sound as I was more focused on just stopping safely off the main road. The sound disappeared as I pulled in and before i stopped (this all took about 10-15seconds). Turned off the van, inspected it in case the belt had broke, turned it back on and drove on with no noise regularly going from 40-75kmhr. Then hit the next hill and it happened again, this time I just intentionally slowed and changed down the gears and as I put my foot down/off the accelerator pedal the sound came/went and then just stopped. Didn't hear it the rest of the journey

[pleasestartnow]

Didn't get a chance to get under today and check grease in the boots, weather is brutal and spent time trying to position the van so a mystery leak didn't soak the exact spot in the bed where my head goes.

Got me thinking though, if I am driving on Friday and the problem is with the belt and it just disintegrates is that noticeable while driving? I'm imagining since it also drives the water pump the temp will rise but is there any sounds/feelings I would get to give immediate feedback?

If it is not enough grease in the cv boot what are the long term consequences of just ignoring it if it is intermittent? (Twice for a few seconds over an 80k journey). All boots are in place so that should hopefully prevent any dirt getting into the bearing.

[Robsey]

If the belt breaks,
it should also cause the alternator to stop, so your charge light should come on as soon as the belt fails.

[Smiffo]

Didn't get a chance to get under today and check grease in the boots, weather is brutal and spent time trying to position the van so a mystery leak didn't soak the exact spot in the bed where my head goes.

Mine used to do that water/party trick. Perished rubber for tailgate I think mine was.
Since I had all the body work done, and new rubbers, it hasn't spilled a drop on me since - so at a guess it was that 

[pleasestartnow]

If the belt breaks,
it should also cause the alternator to stop, so your charge light should come on as soon as the belt fails.

Cheers for that.

Mine used to do that water/party trick. Perished rubber for tailgate I think mine was.
Since I had all the body work done, and new rubbers, it hasn't spilled a drop on me since - so at a guess it was that

Ya this one appeared about a year ago randomly one wet evening. Only happens if the van is facing a certain way into the wind and rain , there is a few cracks along the fibreglass roof so I'm guessing some capillary action going on somewhere, it's a real slow leak, as in a drop every 2 mins maybe. So annoying though

[silverbullet]

If the belt breaks,
it should also cause the alternator to stop, so your charge light should come on as soon as the belt fails.

This happened to me 11 years ago while ragging the SA round Hockenheim on my 40th birthday, it went on lap 5 of 5 iirc.
Backed off, got to the paddock, swapped the belt when it had all cooled down.

Always carry a set of (checked) spare belts!

[jrt]

If the belt breaks,
it should also cause the alternator to stop, so your charge light should come on as soon as the belt fails.

Cheers for that.

Mine used to do that water/party trick. Perished rubber for tailgate I think mine was.
Since I had all the body work done, and new rubbers, it hasn't spilled a drop on me since - so at a guess it was that

Ya this one appeared about a year ago randomly one wet evening. Only happens if the van is facing a certain way into the wind and rain , there is a few cracks along the fibreglass roof so I'm guessing some capillary action going on somewhere, it's a real slow leak, as in a drop every 2 mins maybe. So annoying though

Depending on the size of the crack, try some Captain Tolleys Creeping Crack Cure.
David.