had a squeak, now a squeal

[Morris]

After I replaced my water pump, a small squeaking started to emit from my engine bay. Now it's turned into an intollerable squeal.

Do I need to tighten the belt up more, or are there some bearings shitting out on me somewhere? It's killing me.

[91waggin]

describe. Does it come and go with certain RPMs? Does it get worse when the engine is under load, or is it constant? Just try cranking a little more tension out of the belt on the alternator, and see if that fixes it.

[Morris]

Yeah, lower rpm's it's worse, worse under load. Used to always go away when I shifted to second, but is starting to linger now. Worried shitty 1g alt is getting shittier.

[grandpaslincoln]

If it's not the belt, pull it off and wiggle the pulley for the alternator around. If there's noticeable side to side play that's probably your problem. This is what happened with my old alternator, I replaced it before it became more of a problem. Could also be the belt tensioner, if you still have one that is lol

[Morris]

If it's not the belt, pull it off and wiggle the pulley for the alternator around. If there's noticeable side to side play that's probably your problem. This is what happened with my old alternator, I replaced it before it became more of a problem. Could also be the belt tensioner, if you still have one that is lol

Tensioner is on the other side. It's tensioned by the alt. Do I have to get an alt to fix if that's the problem, or can I replace the pully.

[grandpaslincoln]

I know the tensioner is on the other side, just saying sometimes you replace one thing, and something somewhere else can go wrong. It's something to check anyway. Pulleys don't go bad, it's the bearings in the alternator that do. But the first thing to check is the tension on the belt.

[Morris]

Right on. I'll give those the run through. Thanks fellas.

By the by Jon, not sure what you do for a living, but I think you'll enjoy this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaHm1ecBCgw

[Smokestacklightnin]

Check the tension on the belt, if it's not loose spray it with belt dressing and see if it quiets down. If it does, replace the belt. When i first got my car the belt had a light squeel to it even though it was tight and not noticably worn. Hit it with belt dressing and it got quiet, but would come back, so i replaced the belt end of problem.

[Nathan in MI]

Want some cheap belt dressing? I'll let you in on a little secret.

Comet.

Yep, go under your mother's/wife's/girlfriend's/sister's/other female not already named's sink and grab her container of Comet Cleanser. Put a bit of it on the pullies and underside of the belt, and start the car. Listen in amazement as the squeal goes away. Put the Comet back under your mother's/wife's/girlfriend's/sister's/other female not already named's sink before she notices it's gone.

Even if that's not your problem, it's still a cool trick.

[grandpaslincoln]

Right on. I'll give those the run through. Thanks fellas.

By the by Jon, not sure what you do for a living, but I think you'll enjoy this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaHm1ecBCgw

I'm not an engineer, but that pretty much describes me down to a T lol.



As for belt dressing, ever time I've used it it actually made more noise than just whatever was causing the noise in the first place.

[Morris]

[QUOTE=Grandpaslincoln;484140]I'm not an engineer, but that pretty much describes me down to a T lol.QUOTE]


Figured from checking out your link. Makes me wish I had more junk/time/space to play with shit.

[79lincolnlover]

Check the bolts on the tensioner pulley. I had a similar problem with my '79 TC this summer. One of the bolts on the power steering tensioner broke, which caused the belt to squeal.