MorganMcCann
Well-Known Member
Will a bad tensioner make the belt squeak?
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Belt Squeak
- Thread starter MorganMcCann
- Start date
Tractor Dan
Well-Known Member
Not sure on the belt on its own squeaking. I do know from a few tensioners on my 97 that the squeak you hear is probably the tensioner pulley bearings. So a bad tensioner can cause a squeak on its own. Though i suppose if the belt is slipping really bad it can cause a squeak as well. Not sure if i'm thinking correctly but i think i have seen people say the design of the tensioner on these engines is not a good one and they are known to fail. Hope that helps and someone can come along with more input. I will say whatever you do don't use that belt dressing stuff. Doesn't do anything for you. Atleast not anything long term.
McCormack
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Dec 26, 2008
- Messages
- 346
- Vehicle Year
- 2000
- Transmission
- Automatic
3.0 tensioners are poorly designed from the factory and pull out of alignment rather easily, causing the belt to squeak, especially in wet conditions or when first starting the truck in the morning.
Step one is to make the squeak is coming from the belt - it could be coming from the cam synchro or somewhere else. Take the serp belt off and run the engine briefly and if the squeaking stops, then it's probably the tensioner that's out of alignment. Put a straight edge on the tensioner pulley and see if it's in alignment with the crank pulley. If not, then shim the tensioner straight, or else buy a new one. But like I said the tensioner is poorly designed and a new one might also be out of alignment and will need to be shimmed, so check it with a straight edge after installing it.
Some Rangers, like my '00, came from the factory with larger sized pulleys on both the tensioner and the idler, and this causes the serpentine belt to be stretched way too tight during normal operation, which contributes to the pulling of the already weak tensioner out of alignment. When swapping in a new belt I could barely fit my belt over the pulleys so I knew something wasn't right, so I looked through the catalog at the auto parts store and sure enough Ford offers two different pulley sizes. I bought one of the smaller pulleys (if memory serves me it's about 3/4" of an inch in diameter smaller) and installed it and eureka my serp belt installed so much easier and the belt now puts so much less strain on the tensioner.
After swapping in a smaller pulley and shimming my tensioner I've now put on about 120,000 miles with no further problems. My serp belt is also lasting way longer than it used to - I bought my truck new and my first belt had to be replaced after only 10,000 miles, and I think I got about 100,000 miles out of my last one.
Step one is to make the squeak is coming from the belt - it could be coming from the cam synchro or somewhere else. Take the serp belt off and run the engine briefly and if the squeaking stops, then it's probably the tensioner that's out of alignment. Put a straight edge on the tensioner pulley and see if it's in alignment with the crank pulley. If not, then shim the tensioner straight, or else buy a new one. But like I said the tensioner is poorly designed and a new one might also be out of alignment and will need to be shimmed, so check it with a straight edge after installing it.
Some Rangers, like my '00, came from the factory with larger sized pulleys on both the tensioner and the idler, and this causes the serpentine belt to be stretched way too tight during normal operation, which contributes to the pulling of the already weak tensioner out of alignment. When swapping in a new belt I could barely fit my belt over the pulleys so I knew something wasn't right, so I looked through the catalog at the auto parts store and sure enough Ford offers two different pulley sizes. I bought one of the smaller pulleys (if memory serves me it's about 3/4" of an inch in diameter smaller) and installed it and eureka my serp belt installed so much easier and the belt now puts so much less strain on the tensioner.
After swapping in a smaller pulley and shimming my tensioner I've now put on about 120,000 miles with no further problems. My serp belt is also lasting way longer than it used to - I bought my truck new and my first belt had to be replaced after only 10,000 miles, and I think I got about 100,000 miles out of my last one.
MorganMcCann
Well-Known Member
It is the belt for sure. But I had it in the shop about a month ago, and he told me he fixed the squeaking. Sadly, he did.
But I know the guy quite well, so I'm thinking about just taking it up to him and telling him that he made the squeak worse, which actually happened.
Would some belt dressing help in the short term, so it doesn't drive me crazy?
But I know the guy quite well, so I'm thinking about just taking it up to him and telling him that he made the squeak worse, which actually happened.
Would some belt dressing help in the short term, so it doesn't drive me crazy?
Belt dressing might work for a few minutes.
I would pull the belt and then manually turn all the accessory pulleys, i.e. Alt, Water pump, A/C, Power steering, and tensioner, see if one of them is dragging.
I would pull the belt and then manually turn all the accessory pulleys, i.e. Alt, Water pump, A/C, Power steering, and tensioner, see if one of them is dragging.
Last edited:
MorganMcCann
Well-Known Member
I bought some belt dressing just to attempt to quiet it down so I could stand to drive it, and the dressing just made it 10 times louder.
My 3.0 had a bad squeal I put a new idoler pulley and a new goodyear gator belt on. So far its been the quietest it has ever been. Last time I just put on a pulley and it stayed quiet for only about a month.
MorganMcCann
Well-Known Member
The tensioner? Or the idler on the top?
MorganMcCann
Well-Known Member
I've already replaced that one and the Alternator.
mleega1
Member
Idler pulley.
MorganMcCann
Well-Known Member
As I said earlier, that one has just been replaced.
MorganMcCann
Well-Known Member
It ended up being the tensioner.
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