Serpentine Belt Noisy

[Timothy Ferguson]

Replaced the pulley last night cost $18.00 worked out pretty good. No chirp this morning. Only time will tell.

 

[boxcartommie22]

i agree with jimbo all my fords have dayco polyco beltsa dn idle pullies and tensioners

 

[Jimbo]

Its the belt. I replaced the pulley on the F-150 with no improvement. Get the Dayco Polycog belt. That is the one that fixed the noise for good. OE Motorcraft ones seem to "harden" too soon and start to make noise. The noise is worse on a cold belt because it softens a little and grips better when hot.

 

[TLAR640]

FWIW,
Last winter, the serpentine belt on my '97 Silverado began to squeak badly. I applied silicone tire shine, which instantly quieted the squeak, telling me it was not a bearing going out.
After a heavy silicone application, the belt will slip severely (but silently) for the first 1-2 minutes, but it has not made a squeak for about a year now.

 

[TallPaul]

Interesting. Mine is not as loud since I put the ester lube on it. Still, 40,000 miles, I might as well change it.

 

[TallPaul]

Installed the new belt. It's a NAPA (Gates) that cost $39. The old one is a Dayco Polycog which has brakes in the cogs about every half inch. Between the brakes there were cracks and I saw at least one crack on the back of the belt. That was at 42000 miles for the belt. So far no noise, but I have only run it for a few minutes.

The pulleys all spun fine, but the idler did make a clicking noise as it spun. Perhaps I should replace it.

 

[Ken4]

My guess is the Serpentine Belt Tensioner needs changing. Had mine replaced on my Toyota 2AZ-FE at 2years/20,000km, not very lasting at all.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v400/Ken4/Tensioner_old.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v400/Ken4/Tensioner_Assy.jpg

 

[TallPaul]

So I put the new tensioner pulley on. The old one could be wobbled a bit and same with the new one, though it does not wobble while running, only if forced by hand. Bolt is tight too. Guess that is just the way it is. Strange though. Both pulleys are Dayco.

BTW, the old pulley probably would have been fine for a long time. Yes it clicked but the bearing was nice and tight. Only thing, when I put them on my finger and gave them a spin the old one spun freely but the new one only went around about one turn. That might suggest the bearings being loose in the old one.

Anyway, just as well to have the new one on there now and I only paid $21, where other places were $26 and $30. At any rate, old pulley or new, the chirp noise was gone with the new belt.

 

[TallPaul]

Timothy, Does your new idler pulley wobble? Mine does (by hand, not when running) as did the old one.

I think I wasted my money on a pulley because the old one seems fine, but for a faint click you have to hold it to your ear to hear.

I called a Ford dealer for a pulley hoping to get metal. They did not sell the pulley but the whole tensioner assembly and IIRC it was about $70. So aftermarket might be less.

I may pull the pulley and check the fit again, but a guy on the Ford Truck site said he just replaced his pulley and noticed a "millimeter" of play in the new one. So maybe that is just the way they are.

 

[Timothy Ferguson]

I think mine was still good also but I had a little play in the ford stock pulley. The new one is a Dayco brand pulley and it runs with no play well at not what I can detect. I made sure she was tight and I mean tight. Anyway it didn't fix my problem. I took another look at my tensioner at lunch today it looks a little off alignment so I am going to buy myself a new one. Just hope its as easy to replace as the idler pulley was. I am going to buy a new Dayco from Advance Auto Parts and replace the belt with a dayco poly cog. I have a Gatorback on there now.

 

[TallPaul]

Thanks. The belt that was cracked in 42000 miles was a Dayco Polycog. I understand Dayco is a good belt. This time I have a Gates and there are no cogs. Hope the new tensioner does the trick for you.

 

[Timothy Ferguson]

Got the tensioner has anyone ever removed the original tensioner? Is it a socket type bolt or a hex type bolt? What size is the socket or hex?

HELP?!

 

[Timothy Ferguson]

Well in my case the squeek/chirp is back and its anoying. My next thing is to replace the tensioner. The tensioner seems to me that its off alignment and may be the problem. The tensioner doesn have a little spring play in it when at idle. It is a hard problem to diagnos because when I have time to look at this problem its usually in the evening hours when it warmer and less humid and chrip/squeek has gone away.

My question is that how hard is it to replace the tensioner. By replacing the tensioner it will also give me a replacment pulley so thats a plus. But is it as easy as on bolting the current one and then putting on the new one and tightening it down really tight? It this device keyed for a particular fit? Someone help me if they can explain the process. I am pretty familar with replacing the belt I did that last year summer to be exact and it is now squeeking. I just replaced the idler pulley last week and that didn't help.

Is dayco brand belts and tensioners any good. Easy to install tensioners for go with another brand??

 

[Timothy Ferguson]

My mind is all confused. I actually rushed to work this morning to hear the chirp/squeak before it went away which it does alot. It seems to maybe be coming from the alternator. Could an alternator squeak/chirp and then go away when everything dries out and gets warm? I didn't think alternators chirped or squeaked when bearing or alternator itself were going bad.