I've been having a problem with my belt squealing for the last little bit. I plan to replace it this weekend. But, I new problem has recently started. My belt is clicking on the crank pulley, it keeps coming forwards and tried to pop off. The worst of it all is that there is a grinding noise coming from somewhere, it kind of sounds like it coming from the crank pulley.
I took off the idler pulley and greased the bearing as well as the tensioner. neither of those are the problem.
I did a search and someone had a similar issue except for the grinding noise. I figure I'll buy a new tensioner and new belt. But whats the grinding? Should I buy a new crank pulley too? My fan seems to be running just fine, no overheating, so I assume that the clutch wouldn't be the problem.
Any help will be very much appreciated, thanks.

 

welcome to df.

with engine off, check the belt. verify its aligned in the grooves of all the pulleys where it should be.

watch the belt with the engine running. is it tracking straight? is it walking back and forth on the water pump? is it jumping, clicking, clacking?

engine off, unhook belt from tensioner. for each pulley in the system, including water pump and hamonic balancer (crank). try to wiggle the pulley, should be no movement. spin each pulley by hand (except crank). should be firm and true, no dry ringy sound, no wiggle, no wobble, no click or clack.

its one of your pulleys...

 

I took another look at it tonight, I did see it wander on the water pump. Also, the tension pulley tightens and slacks a lot. I'll check them all again. I know for a fact that it isn't tracking right, I just don't know yet what pulley it is. Any idea of the grinding though? Could the noise be my balancer?

 

do the spin and wiggle tests. the bad guy will speak up.

a little jumping of the tensioner is normal, but it should be quiet and not tick or click. if you decide your tensioner is bad, get the Gates brand from rockauto and use the discount code.

i doubt its the balancer. more likely tensioner, idler, or water pump.

 

sounds like the bearings on your tensioner, but don't just replace the pulley like I tried. Two monthes later the stud snapped off and threw the belt.

 

I hope it's just the tensioner. I really don't want to crawl under the truck and yank the crank pulley. I know the idler has to be replaced, but it's still in good enough shape to last the winter. I'll give the pulley's a wiggle later on and let yall know how it goes. Thanks for the help so far, much appreciated.

 

How do you nkow it is in good enough shape to last a given amount of time? I think you are taking unnecessary chances. I would replace it now.

 

That's a good point... i think that may just be what got me in this trouble in the first place.
SO, I did figure the problem out. The water pump pulley. After the belt blew off and putting a new one on.... it blew off and sprayed coolant everywhere.
My question now is, if I buy a new water pump, does it come with the propeller shaft or do I have to buy that separately? the truck broke down in front of a garage, they want 500 bucks to fix it Monday. If I can figure out what part particularly I need, I'll fix it myself on Saturday. Also, I'm assuming I'll need a new water pump pulley onto of that? Or would it still be okay to use if it was just the pump itself that went?

 

I got my water pump from Autozone and it came with the pulley on it. Youll also want to get the metal tube that goes into the water pump. I forget the name of it but it was only like $5-$10. Alot of them rust and break trying to get it out.

 

There's maintenance, and there's repair. Do more of the first and you'll save money on the second.

The pump should could complete and ready to bolt in. You should also buy a timing cover gasket because they'll fail about half the time when you do the pump replacement. Make sure you can take it back if it's unopened, or just hang onto it if you don't need it -- you eventually will need it. Also, without fail, replace the bypass hose. You do need it. Always always always. Trust me.

You should replace the thermostat while you're in that deep anyway.