belt chirp

[wxboilermaker]

My 2002 4L x has started the notorious belt chirp, but this time with a twist. It was chirping bad so I popped the hood and took a look. Sure enough the idler was toast, so I change it. When I first started teh car back up, It was still chirping, however a lot less. You could watch the tensioner slightly move with every chirp of the belt.

Here's the strange part. With the belt off, the Power steering pump had some play in iit along the pully axis. As in I could pull the pully out and push it in, but could not rock it up and down. The chirp however sounded like it was coming from the alternator region of the engine tho. With a screwdriver as a stethascope neither the alternator or the PS pump sounded funny. The last time I had it in for an oil shange, the mech (not a jiffu lube place), pulled the belt and checked the stuff out and told me i needed a new alt, altho I didn't feel the same amount of play he described.

as of now, there is no chirping at all. Every once in a while on start up you get one or two, but it's silent.

 

[Critical_Level2]

Did you replace the belt when you replaced the idler. It is possible for a bad pulley to cause premature wear on a belt.
It could just be some dust or dirt on the belt too, that can sometimes cause chirping.

 

[wxboilermaker]

i just replaced the idler. The belt was changed about a month ago when the pully first started to chirp. I'm thinking it might just have been dirt seeing as it's not making noise any more.