I've bought probably 12 belts in the last 2 years for my 5.2, mainly because I'm lazy (you know how it is).


Heres whats up.


After making a cross country trip a couple years ago (with a cracked power steering hose which was probably soaking my pulleys and belt) my belt started squeaking, I changed the idler pulley, didn't fix it. Bought a new belt, squeak went away. 2 months later squeak comes back, buy new belt, squeak goes away. So I've been just buying a new belt every 1-3 months instead of fixing it, but its time to take care of business. I thought it might be oil on the pulleys doing something to the belt from the spraying power steering hose which I had fixed a while ago, so I cleaned all the pulleys with simple green, degreaser and a toothbrush thinking that old oil buildup was eventually warping the belt, but the squeak wasn't fixed. Maybe I should get in there with a wire brush, I even read another post which talked about sanding all the groves of the pulleys, maybe I'll give that a shot.


Could a misaligned pulley gradually warp a belt, but not affect a new one?


Anyone hear of this problem before?


Thanks

 

hows the belt tentioner doing? sounds like the belt is new and fresh then stretches some which is normal but the tentioner isnt keeping it tight

 

Yes i have heard of this issue before. If you take the wire brush and take the glaze off all the pulleys it will solve the squeak. But also make sure you tentioner is working, They have been known to stick.

 

take a yard stick out there and make sure everything is lined up, rock all of the pullies without the belt on there. My guess is idler or maybe A/C compressor.

 

thanks.....I'll check all those out!

 

Have you counted the teeth on the pulley to make sure it is the same count as the other pulleys? Laugh, but i had this same issue happen to me when i replaced my Alternator a few years back, i believe our's are 7-rib and the alternator i got had a 6-rib pulley on it

 

my first thought was also a fresh new belt stretching some over a couple months and a belt tensioner not....tensioning, lol.

 

My money is on the tensioner also .

You can fix it right on the truck . Remove belt , apply a penetrating oil like PbBlaster first if seized as in pic . I usually just use Fluid film for a one shot deal . Once applied , simply work it back and forth to full range for about 30-60 seconds . It should be springing back nicely now . Wipe it up , reinstall belt .