I got a squeak that's going on under the hood, driver's side. It looks like it's the tension belt-how do I know if I need a new one or if I can just spray some of that belt grease/lubricant on there?

Thanks guys.

 

A stethoscope can help you nail down sounds or a long screw driver and listen to the end of it. Also you can turn it off and grasp the bearing and check for movement side to side after removing tension. Also check you idler bearing or A/C bearings and clutches.

 

I found a suggestion to a similar issue that suggests checking for cracks or wear in the tension belt and replacing it might help-any thought on that?

Thanks.

 

The "tension belt" ?


You should check the belt for cracking and you might need to replace it. An old trick you can do to tell if it's a belt or a bearing is spray the belt as the engine is running on the underside with a spray bottle of a tinny bit of soap but mainly water out of a spray mister. If the noise goes away for a few it is most likely the belt, if not it's most likely a bearing.

The Tensioner Pulley consists of a spring loaded arm and a wheel with a bearing. THe wheel turns on the belt as the spring loaded arm creates tension keeping the belt tight and of the proper tension. So there ar 2 different parts to a Tensioner Pulley. The spring loaded arm and the bearing/wheel assembly. If the spring is shot it will not keep pressure on the belt and wont flex as the motor torque pulls on the belt (this is what happened to me). If the bearing is shot the wheel will have a slight movement in it to the arm joint causing the sound and eventually will ware off quickly and fly off and then the belt comes off and the water pump stops turning. If you don't notice right then what happened you could blow the motor!

You should be able to swap the bearings if you look at the number and know what your doing however it is most likely better to swap out the whole assembly.


As for the Idler Pulley, this is just a simple pulley/bearing to turn the belt back down to a pulley for engine use or to change how the belt contacts the pulley (wraps the belt around the pulley) to ensure proper amount of contact. If this bearing goes it's the same problem.

Both bearings are usually the same bearing. One thing you could try is if the soap water finds the problem is a bearing then spray a light bit of lubricant on to the bearing one at a time to see which one is the bad one. Do NOT do this to the A/C Compressor clutch/bearings!

A/C Compressor bearings/clutch is a complete different system that is electo-magnetic engaged friction clutch plates and when not engaged it rotates on a bearing. You CAN replace the clutches and bearing instead of the whole compressor. Once you figure out that the Idler and Tension bearings are good then this would be the last place to look but also keep in mind it could be a number of other pulleys like Alternator, Water Pump, Dampener, or any other pulley.

 

I have a 2000 D with the 5.9 V8 2WD. I have a sqeaking noise in and/or around the serpentine belt. I'm sure that it's either the idler pulley or the tensioner. Problem is...I'm not sure which is which. Can someone please help?

Thanks.