Alright bought the 2001 ranger 3.0 2wd edge with AC in April 2018 - belt would intermittently squeak. Found both tensioner pulley and idler pulley suspicious of being worn out so replaced them. Still squeaked, replaced belt thinking maybe it got glazed. Dead quiet. Quiet all summer till maybe a week or two ago then started chirping again. Now anything above idle is constant squeak. No other problems besides that vehicle wise. Isolated it to the idler pulley. I put a tiny dab of dielectric grease (used car lot trick) on the smooth side of the belt and that instantly quieted it down to dead quiet. Lasted a week now back to squeaking constantly again. Longer it runs worse it gets. Stone cold engine its dead quiet but as it warms up it starts as a chirp then a constant squeak...

Whats causing this? Google suggest tension too tight (tensioner feels normal) or misaligned pullies. Well theres not much to align is there???

 

In the past i have used chalk on the smooth side of the belt engine running,.......if you try this be careful

 

I suspect one of the bearings in one of the front end components is bad. The bearing itself isn't squeaking but *maybe* the pulley its attached to is not square. So the belt is skidding as its running on that particular pulley.

Use a stethoscope or hose to locate the source of the noise then take the belt off and inspect that component. (careful of the fan!!!)

 

Yea i was suspecting maybe i got a bad idler pulley or something so exchanged it under warranty. That didnt help.

 

Try one of those Gatorback belts from Good Year, that solved my noisy problems.

On mine, no mater what I did, it always made noise, I did those things to make it quiet that worked for a little while, but the noise always came back.

I still have noise when the belt gets wet after a harsh rain storm when a bit of water gets on the belt, but it goes away when the belt dries. (about 30 seconds)

When I took a straight edge to the pulleys, I found that the water pump pully was set back further then the rest, next summer I'm going to make a spacer to bring that pully in line with the rest.
It was in too far by a good 1/8th of an inch.

 

oh damn, yea i need to check that, i noticed the belt seems to be riding pretty far back on the stationary idler pulley.

 

I also forgot something too, if you get a Gatorback and it still makes noise, turn the belt the other way.

Stay away from Dayco belts.

 

When you change your belt, make sure you clean up the pulleys and they are free of any oils, solvents or old rubber. Take a scotchbrite pad to the smooth surface ones and the edges of the grooved pulleys. Brake cleaner works pretty good for me on the pulleys.
ETA: +1 on the Gatorback, all I use.

 

Yes, I'm resurrecting a dead thread from over a year ago...better than creating a new one, right? And my belt squeal is my primary reason for registering to this forum...

Also have a 3.0, and have replaced the belt 3x using the cheapest, the most expensive, and something in between...each time the squeal goes away for a few hundred miles, then comes back only when it's wet out, then just squeals all the time. I'll check the WP pulley when I get a chance, this thing is driving everyone to drink...

 

I have one of those Gatorback belts, it was quiet at first, now it squeals when it gets wet _ it has to be raining really hard and/or when a big truck goes by with lots of spray, but it stops when it dries out.
When I put on the new water pump, I think the pulley on the pump is not aligned at all, I need one of those fancy laser gauges to see for sure, at any rate I do plan to shim it with some longer bolts in the spring to see if it helps

 

Remove the belt and paint the power steering pulley and crank pulley, or rough them up with Emory Cloth

Power steering pump is the hardest to turn and lower down so is generally the one that makes the noise, especially when wet outside

Any time you hear the squeal that means the belt polished the pulley, called "glazing", it makes it smooth as glass, lol
So even with a new belt spots on the pulley will still slip
So painting or roughing up removes the glazed spots

water pump and alternator rarely squeal, AC can when its on, so you can do AC pulley as well

squealing is a lack of friction between belt and pulley, I know, DUH, but its not always a belt issue

 

Yes, that does work, but eventually the paint wears and the roughing up gets shiny and we're back to square one again.

Funny thing is when I first got the truck it had a shitty Dayco belt on it, it was fine, it was only until I disturbed everything, maybe because the pulleys were kind of rusty.

 

It only gets shinny when it slips again, and then you have to do it again

It is an issue with the 3.0l fan belt routing, especially with AC, not enough belt surface on the P/S pump pulley

 

That's an interesting take, and definitely what I'll try next - thank you!

 

Bet its the belt tensioner did you check for smooth movement ..could be sticking in one spot, causing not enough tension ...