Belt Whine

[blast7]

I am having a lot of whining coming from the front end of my 5.0 that changes with RPM. I have done some searching and believe that it is not the alternator. The noise does change when I turn my wheel from left to right at a stop but VERY minimally. It is present at idle. I have read that it may be my belt tensioner assembly or one of my idler pulleys. Is there any way to narrow it down to one of these potential problems?

 

[trucku]

Idler pulley is cheap and tensioner pulley is cheap. Just change them.
With that change your serpetine belt also. Take the belt of and give all of your accessories a spin by hand to see if you feel any binding or hear noises.

 

[Glacier991]

Probably the soundest advice anyone can offer. I would add though that the alternator can spin easily by hand though and whine under load....(and to a lesser degree so can the power sterring pump - but you can isolate that easily by having someone gently turn the steering wheel in either direction while the engine is running and see if the whine changes) other than those additions, I am with him on his advice.

 

[DocAnkh]

I have to agree with glacier and trucku.It sounds like you only need a serpetine belt.If noise continues replace tensioner pulley.Take a close look at the alt. and a/c compresser by spinning it just to be sure that its not one of them making the noise.Also listen around your MAF sensor (beside air filter on air intake).I found this on my X to sometimes sound like a belt.Good Luck.....

 

[blast7]

Thanks everyone, I will perform the recommended repairs and report back.

 

[RajnCajun7]

hey everyone, I'm havin a similar problem with my 94 except i hear a brief whine on startup. I had both the belt and tensioner replaced, but every time I start it up after a few hours or more, I'll hear a whine from under the hood that I would think is the belt. But if I start it up after running it say an hour or less beforehand, I won't hear the whine. Could this still be one of the accessorie causing the problem even though the whine goes away, or could it be a the new belt or tensioner be defective? Any help would be great. Thanks

 

[blast7]

Update: I took the belt off and everything looked good. When I put it back on the whining was gone. I don't know why but it worked out nicely.