kc I'm not an expert, but I check my Alt. bearing by listen to each end of the alt thru my siphon hose. I know they have better ways, but there's always a piece of hose laying around.
Sqeal when accelerating - not serpentine belt
- Thread starter KC Strip
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Well, based on what you said, it only squeals when accelerating, which would be putting a load on the alternator. My '90 Cutlass did this and so did my '93 GMC V6 truck. Kind of hard to reproduce the noise when not under those circumstances. But, take off the serp. belt and turn the alternator pulley by hand. See if you can feel some week grinding or something akin to sounding like sandpaper rubbing against each other.
I used to get a squeal sound on my explorer even right after a changed my serpetine belt. Turns out my fan pully was so glazed from the back of the last belt it still slipped. I just used some light sandpaper and took the glaze off any smooth pulley. Then I had no more issues. I also made sure that I had clean pulleys and no kind of contaminants to make them slip.
Schmoe:
I took your suggestion about taking off the serpentine belt and turning the alternator pulley by hand. Guess what? I heard a faint grinding sound; not through the whole turn, but for part of it for sure. This alternator was a replacement of the original. Fortunately, I purchased one with a limited lifetime warranty. So I should be able to exchange it for a new one soon. Let's hope when the new one is one that it eliminates the squeal!
I took your suggestion about taking off the serpentine belt and turning the alternator pulley by hand. Guess what? I heard a faint grinding sound; not through the whole turn, but for part of it for sure. This alternator was a replacement of the original. Fortunately, I purchased one with a limited lifetime warranty. So I should be able to exchange it for a new one soon. Let's hope when the new one is one that it eliminates the squeal!
I've had too many part-store generic tensioners fail. This is one of the parts that I will only install new OEM, or rebuild myself. Some pulleys(plastic) don't survive bearing replacement.
Too much tensioner tension can cause 'bearing failure'.
Cleaning/scuffing pulleys, when replacing belts, is a must. I'm glad that you brought that up.
Incorrectly installed belt tensions may not move freely. I noticed some poorly install tensioners that didn't move freely enough since they were overtightened into place. When in doubt, torque wrench and referencing factory service manual is a must.
Too much tensioner tension can cause 'bearing failure'.
Cleaning/scuffing pulleys, when replacing belts, is a must. I'm glad that you brought that up.
Incorrectly installed belt tensions may not move freely. I noticed some poorly install tensioners that didn't move freely enough since they were overtightened into place. When in doubt, torque wrench and referencing factory service manual is a must.
See if it squeaks with the belt off.
Your welcome!
**** that sucks.
No, I meant drive with the belt off. But you seem to have figured it out.
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