The Mighty Texan

iTrader: (4)

So I had my ac belt off during the winter cause it started squeaking really loud. I got the t50 bit today, took off both idlers down there and greased them. Put it back on and that loud *** *** squeak comes back after about a minute of running. I got a water bottle gun and sprayed the idler directly and the sqeek instantly dies after getting hit until it dries or whatever then comes back.

My question: do you have to grease those "shield/holders" or whatever that go on either side of the bearing also? Why is that squeak still there?

Edit: picture added. I know its the serp tensor but yall will know what i mean

Davey G

iTrader: (1)

Are the idlers tracking straight?

The Mighty Texan

iTrader: (4)

Like is there any play? Im not sure..all i know is the water on the one pully stops the sound, when i spray the other pullys and or the belt by themselves it does not change, i will have to confirm that but i remember narrowing it down the the idler pully thats on the tensor.

I was reading on here that one guy found his tensor was getting to the point where it was too tight and it started causing the belt to slip. Guess that wouldn't matter if it got hit with water though..

The Mighty Texan

iTrader: (4)

I was thinking of just taking the bracket off of the idler bearing but i don't really know its purpose.. it looks like just a protector or something but since the bearing itself is good now that i repacked it and its that pulley then it must be sqeaking against that bracket..

Elthesh

iTrader: (1)

The tensioner itself is likely bad. Possibly the belt as well. My car had a similar problem when I bought it. The main belt was squealing away. The previous owner tossed a new belt on and doused the thing with belt dressing which stopped the squeal. Once I got the car, I fixed what I knew the problem was. I replaced the idler pulley which was bad and the main tensioner which was weak as can be and bad. I also replaced the 2 AC pulleys.

You may be better off just replacing both of those and the belt. I bet that'd solve the problem.

The Mighty Texan

iTrader: (4)

I'm sure that if I replaced all that it will go away but I feel I could fix this without having to. Does anyone know about taking that bracket off? I'll probably just do it today

Elthesh

iTrader: (1)

I'm not really sure what you mean by bracket. The 2 actual idler pulleys, from the factory, have dust shields on the front and either a dust shield on the back or maybe it's a spacer. I'm not sure. The 2 belt tensioners don't have any dust shields that I've seen.

If you are referring to the dust shields/spacers, those don't turn independently of the pulley, so there's no way for them to be squealing. As a matter of fact, I don't believe the dust shield turns at all, and if the rear shieldspacer is like the front, I don't think that turns either. Some aftermarket pulleys do not use the front dust shield, and you can't actually fit it on those. Some aftermarket ones DO continue to use it though.

I can't imagine anything else you could be referring to, as I just replaced ALL the tensioners and pulleys and the only things that came off were those shields. If spraying water on one of them gets the noise to stop, I would really say either your belt or pulley is terminally bad. You can try removing the front dust shield as that technically isn't needed, but the rear one is likely a spacer, as without it, my pulley was either rubbing the mounting spot or was almost and the belt was a little too close to the pulleys edge. That would be a metal on metal sound though, and I can't see how some water spray would stop it. Plus, you'd see where it was scraping just by taking the pulley off and looking it over.

The Mighty Texan

iTrader: (4)

Yeah they are the dust shields i confirmed that today when i was looking around on some F150 sight haha.. I took it off and it didnt stop so it wasnt that.. Its not the belt because i can spray the belt somewhere else and the squeek will be there, its either the idler or the tensor pully.. the bearings are good, i dont know what the water would be hitting to make it stop, maybe i should clean the area the belt hits on the pulley but they looked really clean... The weird thing is the water will stop it from squeeling and where im spraying is right between the dust shield and the bearing.. I got in there to night and found some more places i could grease so we will see if that fixes it..

Elthesh

iTrader: (1)

So spraying water behind the dust shield quiets it down. Well, you should do this. Take the pulley off. Put the pulley together between your tumb and finger, with the shields in their proper spots and spin the pulley close to your ear. This will cover 3 things. You'll feel if the pulley is "ticking" when it spins, you'll hear if it's "ticking" when it spins, and you'll also hear any other noises. Then look at the backsides of the shields and the pulley and see if you can find any shiny spots.

After this, spin the pulley by itself near your ear and see if you hear anything funny other than the ticking, if they tick at all. By ticking, you'll know or do already know what I mean. Kind of like a card in a bicycle spoke. That won't likely be your squealing noise, but it will tell you if even after regreasing if the pulley isn't doing so hot.

When I chucked out my old ticking pulleys, they made no other noises. I also took the shields in the house and scrubbed them clean with dish soap... Just cause, lol. Make sure the shield isn't warped or bent or anything.

For what it's worth, the AC idler pulley is about 12 bucks. That'd be the Dayco one and it's a shiny steel, not crappy plastic. That should also be the same pulley for the tensioner. The tensioner is like 48 bucks. I replaced mine due to age, but the pulley can be changed by itself. Just in case you do change em, you can get those pulleys for those prices or better. Advance sells the same pulley for like 25 bucks.

parks450

iTrader: (17)

bearings are wore out. Go get a new pulley from local parts store.... Problem solved

BirdsSince16

iTrader: (3)

I replaced them both yesterday. Cheap to buy and less than 30 minutes to change. I almost spend more time jacking the car up.

Elthesh

iTrader: (1)

Hmm, you jacked your car up to replace those AC ones? I've noticed a lot of people do that going by posts. I did mine from the top. I used an 18 inch breaker bar, T-50 bit for one of them, reached down to hold the bit steady with one hand and... Pop, bolt was free. I then used an extendable ratchet on the tensioner which I then wedged the end behind the water pump pulley center "lip" to hold the tensioner open to get the belt around the AC pulley and in position. I really scrubbed those pulley bolts clean too.

When I read all the nightmares of broken bolts, torx bits and other parts, it kinda scared the hell out of me. I really spent more time cleaning off the spacers and just generally eyeing things over since I could see more bits with the pulleys off now. I did need to buy some automotive grade washers, 1 exactly, to put behind one of the pulleys. AC or main idler, I dunno. One of the rear spacers wouldn't fit with the new pulley. Was probably the ac idler though.

The AC idler is pretty nice looking now. A nice shiny silver steel pulley instead of the crappy plastic. There's a company that makes aluminum? I think, replacement pulleys for the 2 AC ones and the main idler, tensioner and PS pulley. Actually, yet ANOTHER company makes a replacement PS pulley too which I think looks far nicer then the wagon wheel design of the other companies PS pulley.

The Mighty Texan

iTrader: (4)

Problem solved! I took off all the pulleys again but this time I cleaned everything really well and greased the mounts inside of dust shields etc. When I was cleaning the dust shields I saw a very tiny piece of metal that might have caused a squeal too. Pretty much I just needed to clean everything better and grease more spots!