SOHC serpentine squealing

[calisoundmix]

so a few days ago i was driving and floored it to pass the line of idiot cars and the throttle cable got momentarily stuck, with cars in front of me i put it in neutral real quick so i didn't rear end anybody, bad idea since the revs shot up right to about the SOHC redline ~6200 RPM, i immediately slammed it back into drive at which point i realized my serpentine belt tensioner pulley had snapped, i get it off road before the temp gets too high and spend the better part of an hour getting and installing the new tensioner assembly (that bolt is TIGHT), so my car runs fine now with the exception of a very loud squealing sound, soaking the belt with a "belt quieter" advertised to stop squealing helped a lot (it's only a temp fix since i've been working 14 hour days) and now it only squeals for at startup for no more than a few minutes, less when it's been driven lately.

based on threads i searched here it sound like a pulley problem, and since it's coming from the passenger side of the engine i've narrowed it down to the alternator, or idler pulley. i tried spinning all the pulley wheels with the belt off and the alternator did seem harder to spin but since it's got a big magnet on it this didn't surprise me.

so after that long winded background info here are my questions...
1-can i just replace the alternator pulley or do i need to buy a new alternator?
2-any other common fail-points on the SOHC passenger side serpentine belt assembly.

thanks all...

 

[X-North]

Put a little bit of WD40 on the front bearing of the alternator and start the engine then soak it up with WD40 but beware not to soak the belt ...put it behind the pulley with the red tube that come with a new WD40. If it stop sqealing then im sure its your bearing that overheated. Just remove the alternator and go to a shop that can test it. If its still charging enough then remove the pulley and put back a new bearing...make the test befoe buying the new bearing bacause if the alternator is shortened inside then you wuld have buy a bearing for nothing.

 

[calisoundmix]

so i shot some WD40 behind the alternator pulley, and sure enough it only squeals for a second or two on startup, so it sounds like the alternator bearings are bad. How hard is it to replace the bearings? is it a simple job or would i be better off buying a new/reman alternator. it still charges fine, and thats with a decent system so i'm not worried about that part of it.

thanks for the replies...

 

[Hoppy]

Unfortunately I don't think there is a rebuild kit for alternators on our Ex's. You can look, but I don't think you'll have any luck. What you can do and I did this a few years ago on my first generation ex was I took the alternator apart, found the number of the bearings and went to the local bearing supplier. I got the bearings and also bought new brushes for the regulator and put it all back together again. No more problems. This may be your answer.

 

[bluesman2333]

Alternator bearings are easy to replace but slightly time consuming. However, for the price of a good used one or a rebuilt one, even though I can do it I don't other even on my own vehicles. A $15.00 bearing vs a $60.00 or less (used) alternator vs having my day shot or a quick swap.

 

[96eb96]

Replace your idler pulley too. They are weak on these cars and prone to failure especially with that mileage and wear and tear. It is very cheap insurance.

 

[Joe Dirt]

So when I start Snowball, she squeaks for like 1/2 second. Is that my idler pulley, or my Alternator pulley bearing? When she's warmed up she barely squeaks, if she makes noise at all.

 

[calisoundmix]

thanks for all the responses guys, so i figured start cheap with just the idler and if necessary i'll replace the alternator. of course the f***ing tensioner bolt has been rounded off, but only in the loosening direction. so now i gotta bring my car into pepboys tomorrow unless anyone has a miricale suggestion on getting the bolt off (i've tried metric and inch size bolts and my hands are cut up bad)

thanks again to those who responded

 

[Space Truckin']

Have you tried a GatorGrip socket?

 

[bluesman2333]

I've had to take sawzalls and angle grinders to more than one bolt. I haven't looked at the front of my engine yet but is there a way to take the entire part off all the way to the engine block? Then you can work on it on the bench. I assume you are just taking the bolt off that holds the pulley itself to the tensioner.

 

[calisoundmix]

thanks but it's already in the shop. go figure ford won't sell just the bolt so i gotta buy the whole tensioner assembly. and i was talking about the bolt holding the assembly to the block unfortunatly and it's a little tight to get an angle grinder in there.