my stupid freakin truck. the altenator started squeeking so i sprayed it with wd-40 and it stopped squeeking for like 5 minutes. so i went and spent the $118 for a refurbished one. installed it started the truck up and now there's more squeeking so i spray the idler pulley with wd-40 and it stops the squeeking. so i go and buy the new idler pulley, another $22 bucks. install it and put on the truck. the squeeking is still there. i can spray the new idler pulley and squeeking will stop for a little while as long as it is in idle but as soon as i put a load on the motor, start moving, it starts to squeek again. what should i do next?

 

did you try a new belt yet?

 

Don't spray WD40 or anything else near your belt or alternator. Clean the pulleys thoroughly and install a new OEM belt or a Goodyear Gatorback belt. While the belt is off, check both the fixed idler pulley and the tensioner pulley bearings for roughness or slop. Make sure that the tensioner pivot is working freely.

 

i would say its the belt, i use gates belts but use what you like the most.

 

my belt is in fairly new condition and i don't really see how it could be the belt but i can give that a try.

 

Goodyear Gatorback belt
enough said.
But..is the tensioner working properly?

Rick

 

yeah the tensioner is working just fine. listening to the truck when it's running the sound is coming from the idler pulley but i just replaced it.

 

New or old, your belt has WD40 on it now. That will cause problems as long as it is there. If you don't want to replace it, you might be able to clean it off but be careful not to use anything that will deteriorate the rubber. As i said before, the pulleys need to be cleaned, too.

 

I doubt you will be able to get all the WD-40 out of the belt, yea, you can clean it but give a bit of time & the WD-40 that has soaked in will bleed back out of the rubber & again coat your pulleys. Just buy a new Gater belt, clean the pulleys as Bob said & that hopefully will take care of the problem.

Rick

 

On my '98 I had a tensioner pulley bearing go bad that caused a similar situation. Might want to just take it off, check it or get it checked and if it's not the problem, you may want to check the other things that the belt runs on (like the A/C compressor, alternator, etc.) for bad bearings. A good way to do this is to get a peice of metal pipe and with the engine running CAREFULLY put one end on each accessory and listen for the sound through the other end, kind of like using a stethoscope. If you do this, mind you hands, fingers, and the pipe to be sure you don't get into the fan or belt since it will be moving. Either way, definately replace the belt since it's been saturated with the WD-40. I'd get some wax & grease remover or alcohol and wipe down all of the pulleys too to get that WD-40 off while you have everything apart.

 

Try using Dawn Dish detergent to clean the belt, it removes grease but won't kill the rubber. Remove the belt and really clean it with a brush in warm water and wipe down all the pulleys with a good degreaser as well.
One thing that you can spray on a belt that really won't hurt it is ArmorAll, its sort of a used car trick but its a good way to tell if it's the belt or a bearing causing the noise.

Another thing you may want to check it pulley alignment, I've seen the spring belt tensioner wear and get out of align as well as misinstalled Power Steering pulleys.
If all else looks fine, I would simply go with a new Gates or Motorcraft belt, they seem to last the longest. It's a lot cheaper than just throwing parts at it. I would look close at your old belt, bend it backwards a bit and see if there's any signs of cracking or dryrot. The belt's rubber ribs should be soft and plyable and not hard or abrasive feeling. It's hard to tell how long a belt will last too, you sometimes have no idea of how long it sat before you bought it, as well as what it came in contact with over the time it was installed. Super hot weather, engine detail chemicals, etc.. can all reduce belt life.

 

new belt fixed problem. last night i broke the bolt on the idler pulley so i had to deal with that this morning but finally was able to go get a new belt and problem solved. thanks for the input