Trying to locate a squeal

[metalmike]

I've had the infamous squeal for a little while now, and I'm stumped as to what's causing it.
Here's what I've figured out so far:
- The squeal is in the front of the engine, so it's not the cam syncro
- It's coming from the driver side of the engine so it's not the alternator
- Tensioner alignment is off by maybe a degree or three
- If I spray Blaster's white lithium grease on the a/c pulley, it goes away
- With the belt off, the a/c pulley spins freely and doesn't make a sound, the
idler pulley has some wobble to it, and the power steering pulley is a little
difficult to turn by hand

I'd like to avoid replacing half the pulleys under the hood, so any ideas what's causing this obnoxious squeal?

 

[McCormack]

If the power steering pump pulley turns a bit hard that's the first place I would investigate. And in regard to your tensioner being only a degree or two off, it doesn't take much of a misalignment for the tensioner pulley to make the belt squeal, so that's something else you might want to investigate.

 

[TX Ranger]

I'm with McCormack concerning the alignment. Unless I'm missing something, it sounds like it's the A/C compressor? You lube it and no squeal?

 

[metalmike]

If I lube the a/c compressor pulley the squeal goes away, but when I turned it by hand with the belt off it was silent and spun freely. I'll double check the alignment and might look into shimming the tensioner pulley as well.

 

[TX Ranger]

Any wobble to it when spun by hand? Little different than 900 rpm's.

 

[metalmike]

The a/c pulley felt pretty solid when I spun it by hand. I'd imagine the bearings would be under a lot more stress with the belt than with my hand, so that's probably why I didn't hear anything with the belt off. Once I get this thing called free time I'm going to replace the pulley anyway and see what happens.

 

[TX Ranger]

That would be my route of attack. I hear ya on the free time, working today, and trying to find a few ours to change out lower ball joint that's been bad for months.

Good luck, and let us know how it goes.

 

[metalmike]

Well, finally got some time (and nice weather) to get under the hood. Few things I noticed:
- The fan has to come off to replace the serpentine belt?
- The little bolt on the front of the compressor is impossible to get off
- My squealing problem is the idler pulley

I noticed the pitch of the squeal changed after I put the belt back on (I'm a guitarist so I notice little things like that), so I stuck my head into the engine while it was running and it's the belt rubbing against the idler. How difficult is it to shim?

 

[TX Ranger]

what's the idler pulley price? shimming would require a fair share of trial and error. while a new one might fix the problem.

 

[Gary101386]

idler pulley shouldnt be more than $20 or so...

 

[McCormack]

what's the idler pulley price? shimming would require a fair share of trial and error. while a new one might fix the problem.

Even though you've apparently never shimmed a tensioner yourself, apparently you feel qualified to give advice on how long it would take to shim a tensioner (rolls eyes). Shimming my tensioner took me about 25 minutes to do, and so far I've put about 120,000 miles on my shimmed tensioner and the belt squeal hasn't returned, so I would say the investment in time was well worth it.

The 3.0 tensioner is a poor design from the factory, and buying a new one doesn't guaranty that that the belt will be aligned, so you might end up shimming it anyway.

 

[FloridaRangerGuy]

Well, finally got some time (and nice weather) to get under the hood. Few things I noticed:
- The fan has to come off to replace the serpentine belt?
- The little bolt on the front of the compressor is impossible to get off
- My squealing problem is the idler pulley

I noticed the pitch of the squeal changed after I put the belt back on (I'm a guitarist so I notice little things like that), so I stuck my head into the engine while it was running and it's the belt rubbing against the idler. How difficult is it to shim?

The fan does not need to come off. Just feed the loose belt around the fan blades and pull it out. Idler/tensioner pulley's will run you between $15 -$25 depending on the brand. I had the annoying squeal and I also came to the conclusion it was the idler pulley(also a guitarist as well). New idler pully, same sqeal. New tensioner pully, same sqeal. New belt, same sqeal. Gatorback serpentine belt is the only thing that has silenced the beast rain or shine and colder temperatures.