My cars belt is squeaking really loud. I always heard that if you spray water on it and the sound goes away that it's a misalignment and not the bearings in the pulley. When I look at my idler pulley the belt seems to be slightly moving side to side, but the pulley itself also seems to be moving a little, making me think it's the pulley that's the problem. If a pulleys bearings are going would the squeak stop when water is sprayed on it ?

Just change the belt. Most likely it will fix the problem. If it still squeaks it's a pulley and 10 bucks wasted.

 

 

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Pull the belt off and inspect it along with the pulley. 

take the belt off and spin all the accessory pulleys; alternator, P/S pump, tensioner, and idler pulleys.  A bad bearing will be quite apparent.  If all run quiet and smoothly, replace the belt.

take the belt off and spin all the accessory pulleys; alternator, P/S pump, tensioner, and idler pulleys.  A bad bearing will be quite apparent.  If all run quiet and smoothly, replace the belt.

 

If this doesn't identify the problem, you can start and run the engine without the belt for a few seconds, to make sure that the noise is actually coming from the belt and not some other component.

Tension idler should be replaced with belt.  How many miles on the car, Any excessive idling?

It's a new belt. I thought it was just a pulley miss aligned because I had one replaced and it started squeaking soon after that and I think I see the belt moving. Unfortunately I don't know what pulley was replaced. The car has 185,000 km and is 16 years old. I think I'll replace the idler and tensioner pulleys.

My cars belt is squeaking really loud. I always heard that if you spray water on it and the sound goes away that it's a misalignment and not the bearings in the pulley. When I look at my idler pulley the belt seems to be slightly moving side to side, but the pulley itself also seems to be moving a little, making me think it's the pulley that's the problem. If a pulleys bearings are going would the squeak stop when water is sprayed on it ?

sounds to me like you just need a new belt. that slight sidetoside is actually fairly normal.

 

shit....jsut read your last post.....what kinda car is it? if it's a 3.3 chrysler, there's a pulley alignment issue, which they make an updated tensioner pulley for......

No it's a ford taurus and it never made any noise until recently. I'm thinking of buying a Goodyear gatorback belt. Has anyone tried one of those ?

No it's a ford taurus and it never made any noise until recently. I'm thinking of buying a Goodyear gatorback belt. Has anyone tried one of those ?

ok. which engine? is it the 3.0 VIN "U"? if it is, are you absolutely certain it's the belt? does the noise go away when you take the belt off?

There is also a common camshaft synchronizer problem in Fords that may sound like a belt / bearing issue:

i think that's the balance shaft bearings. and that's exactly where i was going.....i hear it on at LEAST half the 3.0 "U" engines i work on.

That is interesting. To my ear it really sounds like it's coming from the belt, and when I pour a bit of water onto a pulley the noise immediately stops.

That is interesting. To my ear it really sounds like it's coming from the belt, and when I pour a bit of water onto a pulley the noise immediately stops.

if that's the case, then you're looking at replacing one of the belts or one of the pulleys.......they actually make a laser alignment tool to check pulley alignment.

Looks cool. I don't think I want to spend $100 on that though, I hope not to need to change too many pulleys.

No it's a ford taurus and it never made any noise until recently. I'm thinking of buying a Goodyear gatorback belt. Has anyone tried one of those ?

I ran gatorbacks on my mustang. Worked flawlessly. Gates belts always squeaked for me with only 500 miles

Thanks for the feedback.

Looks cool. I don't think I want to spend $100 on that though, I hope not to need to change too many pulleys.

where do you live? if you're near cherry hill, we'll figure a time, and i'll toss the belt on for ya for just the cost of the belt.........

My belt squeals when it is cold. I spray it with PB blast because I don't care.