last night, fisrt time this ever has happened, my belt started making trmendous noise on me. i couldnt tell if it was the idler pulley or the tensioner, or where it was coming from. i have never heard a serpentine belt do this..

it sounded like an old v-belt would when it slips..

any ideas on what it could be, or an easy way to check these parts without replacing a bunch of stuff in hopes that i get it right?

truck has 52,xxx miles on it. no ridges in belt, both belts were in track and on the pulleys ?

 

were you hard on it when it got noisy? Is there any oil on the belt? Is the belt cracked or dry rotted? If those are all no's Id pop the belt off ad make sure the pulleys were all square and not moving or rubbing on anything. I would make sure the alternator and water pump spins fairly easily.

 

i was kinda hard on it on the way home.. started squeeling pretty loud about a mile from the house, and got louder as i drove it.

i also noticed a little coolant on the ground where i had it parked in my carport.. maybe a spot as big as a paper plate or so. thought it may have been tranny fluid at first, but felt it and smelled it.. and it was coolant.

the belt looked great though, and all the pulleys felt tight.

think maybe some coolant got on the belt and made it squeel?

 

if it doesnt normally run hot Id start looking for a leak. A way to make sure its coolant, taste it if its sweet then you know its coolant.

 

did that too, it was pink and sweet LMAO

it seemed to early for water pump failure, but never can tell whats too early or not.

it wasnt running hot, it did have a lot of pressure on it when i opened the cap on the overflow reservoir though... a lot of pressure.

 

check your power sterring pulley for proper adjustment. If you can feel the shaft of the pump stick out past the pulley at all, the pulley needs to be pulled out a bit. Should be able to run you finger over the front of the pulley/shaft area and feel totally flush.

 

GUMP I bet your power steering pump took or is getting ready to take a ****, check behind it on the cover plate.. Thats where mine started leaking, that was only 35k on it..

John

 

Power steering is what I thought of. If its not that go back and make sure all your idler arm bolts are tight.

 

My money is on the power steering also. Mine squeeled off and on for a few thousand miles before finally giving up at 50,000 miles.

 

checked everything, it turned out to be the alternator pulley. i think maybe the bearings inside are going out?

i am unsure if i can disassemble it and replace the bearings, or do i neeed a whole new alternator?

any thoughts guys? it still charges fine, just noisy as hell