Squeaky belt?

Yesdterday my belt started to churp. At idle you can hear it and all through the rpms it gets louder. This all started a day after i replaced my tensioner. The belt is new as well. I have put water on the belt and it doesn't shut it up. Could i have a bearing going possibly?

did you get the longer tensioner? from what I was told the new belts these days are a tad bit longer so to fix that they made a longer tensioner mine hasnt made a noise since

Yeah it's the longer one. Well it seems to have stopped. It's a hit or miss sometimes. Really frustrating.

Some belts just squeak. On my 96 the PO had installed a Gates belt that was squeaky as hell, I took it off and put the OEM one back on and it was fine. My 97 has a new belt and it squeaks some also, not sure what brand it is.

Was the idler pully bearing good?

superduty4x4 said:

Some belts just squeak. On my 96 the PO had installed a Gates belt that was squeaky as hell, I took it off and put the OEM one back on and it was fine. My 97 has a new belt and it squeaks some also, not sure what brand it is.

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I'm defiantly going with an oem one next time.

Tom S said:

Was the idler pully bearing good?

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Yeah it seemed good. No play, spun good.

Well I am running a gates fleetrunner and it doesn't even think about squeaking. Are all your pulleys clean and in line with one another?

Yeah there all in line. I'm going to scrub them all this weekend and see what happens. In thinking the tensioner had oil on it or something. We'll find out.

I took the belt off and spun and checked out the pulleys. Apon investigation I noticed the alternator pulley had a little squeak to it. Could that be the problem? It's a reman alternator.

psdguy95 said:

I took the belt off and spun and checked out the pulleys. Apon investigation I noticed the alternator pulley had a little squeak to it. Could that be the problem? It's a reman alternator.

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Never had a problem with the alternator squealing I know i have gone through enough of the remans to be able to change it in 10 minutes tops. As well as the vacuum pump. Mine squeals like hell when it rains. That's bout it. not sute what kind of belt it is.

I also noticed my ps pump pulley moves in and out about a 1/4 inch. Is that bad?

That only happens with the belt off. On it doesn't move. I do believe the squeak is coming from that side of the motor though.

I don't have the slightest clue man. I never can pin point that kind of stuff. Hopefully someone more tech savvy will know.

my ps pump is the same ( maybe 1/8"). go a size smaller on the belt. most of the time the squeal is the belt slipping on a pulley. ways to fix include better tensioner, shorter belt, bigger pulleys. mine started squealing after i put on an aftermarket bottom alternator with a smaller then stock pulley. new tensioner and shorter belt fixed me up.

Th belt didn't squeak with the old tensioner on. Thats what confuses me. Should I h
Just get a damn motorcraft belt?

if you can get down there and take the PS pump pulley off look at the rod that its on if it looks worn out or looks like it has grooves CHANGE IT. I had that 1/8"-1/4" movment in mine and one of the guys on another forum said it was ok, 2 days later I heard a loud metal PING and looked out my winddow and saw my PS pump pulley bouncing down the road next to me. Now if its just the rod moving in and out you might be ok but I would still say check it.

Check your vacuum pump too. I had a small chirp in mine and dismissed it after checking all the pulleys. A week later my vacuum pump locked up on me in the middle of nowhere Missouri taking my power brakes with it. I stopped it fast enough to not ruin the belt, only glaze it a little bit. Once I got the pump replaced (4 hours to find one then 1 hr to swap it) the chirp was gone, even with a slightly burnt/glazed belt (I couldn't find a belt in stock anywhere close, so had to make due with the old one).

purpleheart350 said:

if you can get down there and take the PS pump pulley off look at the rod that its on if it looks worn out or looks like it has grooves CHANGE IT. I had that 1/8"-1/4" movment in mine and one of the guys on another forum said it was ok, 2 days later I heard a loud metal PING and looked out my winddow and saw my PS pump pulley bouncing down the road next to me. Now if its just the rod moving in and out you might be ok but I would still say check it.

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Lol that had to be funny as hell to watch. Sucks once your done laughing though.

psdguy95 said:

I took the belt off and spun and checked out the pulleys. Apon investigation I noticed the alternator pulley had a little squeak to it. Could that be the problem? It's a reman alternator.

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It would not suprise me if that was it at all. Lucky enough to be under warranty?

I put some water on the belt with the truck running today and the squeak stopped for a few seconds then came back once the water dried. Looks like the belt is slipping on the water pumo pulley again. I had this problem right after i changed the pump 4 or 5 months ago. It stopped and now it started again. But i think its from the pulleys and belt being dirty. I'm going to clean the crap out of all the pulleys this weekend. How can i go about cleaning the belt itself? Can i soak it in a bucket with some simple green or some type of degreaser? Is there a way i can rough up the water pump pulley? Sorry to ask so many questions.