squeal/chirp
squeal/chirp EDIT: so I kind of lied when I said I repacked ALL of the bearings... I didnt have a t50 so I didnt touch the a/c idler the first time around, so today I found a t50 and pulled it apart again and heres what I found...
^^^^ exactly as it was when it came off the car
having NEVER had this pulley off the car, does anyone have ANY clue how it came unsealed like that? I have no idea how that happened. Its never been touched by me and it hasnt been off the car in the whole 2.5 years i've owned it so how in the hell would the seals be missing like that?
I tried searching but everyone has their own version of squeaks and squeals
I had a horrible squeal so I repacked the bearings with new grease, that solved most of the problem. now the car chirps at idle (not constantly, seems like it skips the sound every now and then) and as the car warms up, the squeal moves higher up in the RPMs. Turning the a/c on/off doesnt seem to make much of a difference, the sound might be a little quieter with the a/c on but that could just be in my head. The belt itself looks fine and I dont see anything else along the line.
im curious if using too much grease on the bearings can cause the excess to seep out and give me trouble? doesnt look like thats my problem but you never know.
anybody with experience or insight on removing the dust shields from the pulleys?
while the car is running the top tensioner has a little movement, is this normal or.. ?
last but not least, I read that the alternator bracket the idler pulley is mounted on can come out of alignment with the crank pulley over time, causing a chirp. just wondering if anyone has dealt with this before?
long story short: I have a squeal, a lot of questions and not a whole lot of money
^^^^ exactly as it was when it came off the car
having NEVER had this pulley off the car, does anyone have ANY clue how it came unsealed like that? I have no idea how that happened. Its never been touched by me and it hasnt been off the car in the whole 2.5 years i've owned it so how in the hell would the seals be missing like that?
I tried searching but everyone has their own version of squeaks and squeals
I had a horrible squeal so I repacked the bearings with new grease, that solved most of the problem. now the car chirps at idle (not constantly, seems like it skips the sound every now and then) and as the car warms up, the squeal moves higher up in the RPMs. Turning the a/c on/off doesnt seem to make much of a difference, the sound might be a little quieter with the a/c on but that could just be in my head. The belt itself looks fine and I dont see anything else along the line.
im curious if using too much grease on the bearings can cause the excess to seep out and give me trouble? doesnt look like thats my problem but you never know.
anybody with experience or insight on removing the dust shields from the pulleys?
while the car is running the top tensioner has a little movement, is this normal or.. ?
last but not least, I read that the alternator bracket the idler pulley is mounted on can come out of alignment with the crank pulley over time, causing a chirp. just wondering if anyone has dealt with this before?
long story short: I have a squeal, a lot of questions and not a whole lot of money
Last edited by buddha845; Dec 7, 2009 at 05:31 PM.
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Joined: Jun 2009
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From: Tulsa, OK
A little movement in your idler pulley is normal. If it doesn't move at all (assuming a stock idler), then it's bad and needs to be replaced.
In your situation, I'd try a little belt dressing and see what happens.
In your situation, I'd try a little belt dressing and see what happens.
My guess it's one of the pulleys. Even with new grease on the bearings, the bearings will wear out. Test the pulleys each by taking the main belt off and spinning each one of them. If it feels tight and wont spin free or feels rough spinning, then that may be the one. On the LS1, the ac pulleys and pump has a belt also. With the main belt off, you can crank the car up for a sec and see if the ac pulleys are the ones making that sound. I had to do this to my 02 Z just last weekend. It went through a flood and water got up past the crank and hit the bottom pulley and took it out. Was making a high squeal and would get higher in rpms also. I found a replacement pulley for the ac system at my local AutoZone, only $16 total, and took me all of 10 mins to replace it. The sound is gone now and I am happy. I also replaced both belts even though my old belts were ok looking just to be safe and since I was there working with the pulleys. Someone else also posted in another thread, that if you take a bar of soap on each pulley, you will find out which one is making the noise. Not sure how this works, but maybe he will chime in on it. Also, as for the tension pulley bouncing, that is normal, only when its going crazy and has a real bad vibration or a heavy bounce, then you should start looking at what the problem is. A little flex bounce is normal.
