squeaking belt , solved?

[muck]

I have a 02 explorer with the 4.0 The belt sqeakes so i replaced it 2 years ago, not long after it started to sqeak again. thinking that i might have bought a cheap belt i got a new one. beter belt. again it started sqeaking. this only starts to squeak whent the weather gets warm. it didnt make any noise all winter untill it hit around 40 degress the other day. i looked under the hood and when i sprayed the pully tensioner it stopped for a few seconds. as long as i hels the spray on the tenshioner it was quiet. im no scientist but im gonna guess its the tensioner. any thoughts?

 

[swetrid]

You can spray anything on the belt and it will go away so i wouldnt condemn the tensioner yet.

 

[Explorer Pete]

I have that same noise. Did the same with the spray, to no good, noise came back. I am from the old school, most if not all of the wrenchheads from past would carry a yellow stick to rub on the outside of the belt to give it slip or grip, Anyway you can't find that anymore. I tried a small amount of belt spray on the back side just befor the water pump, squeek would go away for a bit. I'm thinking that the belt is slipping just a little to make the squeek,or the water pump pully needs more grip. Anyone else have an idea on how to put an end to this squeek problem?

 

[safn1949]

Belt dressing is the worse thing to put on a belt.A lot of times the belt will have hard spots or it can have tiny stone chips in the grooves from road dirt.You can shoot it with a little silicon spray to see if it is actually the belt.

You might want to check your pulleys for out of round,flat spots or buildup of dirt and old belt which will make a new belt jump and squeak.

 

[bcv021]

What about the crank pulley seperating? Not lined up.

 

[trucku]

Had the same problem with the noise. I even went the belt dressing route. The noise came right back. It was a big pain to clean all that stuff off the pulleys as to not contaminate a new belt. In the end the new belt started making noise just after a few weeks. Had already changed my tensioner the year before and the idler pulley, so I knew it was not them. I went ahead and installed my under drive crank pulley and the noise was gone. Looks like the crank pulley was the cause. Same belt since the upgrade over a year now and not a squeal or peep from the belt.

I see two 3rd gen explorers in the morning when I bring my daughter to school and both have the squealing belt.

 

[Explorer Pete]

Trucku, What do you mean the (under drive crank pully)? Can't find that in the book.

 

[trucku]

Trucku, What do you mean the (under drive crank pully)? Can't find that in the book.

Sorry for the confusion. My crank pulley was definately the problem. Instead of just replacing it with another stock crank pulley, I installed a underdrive pulley to try to free up a mpg or two.

 

[trucku]

It is under Harmonic Balancer.

Sorry again, brain farting. The crank pulley is the Harmonic Balancer also. Here from Rockauto.com

2002 FORD EXPLORER 4.0L 245cid V6 FI (E) SOHC : Engine : Harmonic Balancer Wiki Price
DORMAN Part # 594111 {#594223, XL2Z6312BA} Diameter: 6" / Width: 5-5/16"


$56.79
Add to Cart
ATP Part # 102028 {#F0TZ6B321A, FOTZ6B321A, XL2Z6312BA}


$65.79
Add to Cart


Intake Manifold Gasket

 

[trucku]

And on this part, I would go new and not junk yard. You don't know what care the yard takes with pulling out things and the balancer/crank pulley can get damaged if not pulled correctly.