Squeaking noise from belts or pulleys...

[buckboy]

hi guys
this is my first post
im a professional mechanic for the phone company. this happened to me this week with my 04 xlt with 74000 miles suddenly. the pulley broke loose from the damper. it is junk.No odd noises or vibrations from the engine other than the slipping belt. ford does have special pulling and install tools, not cheap.
i used a steering wheel puller with the metric bollts . i loosened bolt then pressed off pulley slightly . i had to remove puller loosen bolt and then repull damper till it finally came off several times. install was fairly easy , tap on lining up key way then pulling in and torquing bolt
i replaced my harmonic balancer with one from dorman 594-111 and motorcraft crank sensor dy1061. they cost me 61.87 and 17.94 respectively.dorman makes the "help" or motormite brands you might see in parts stores. you definetly shouldn't run the truck like this, besides taking out the crank sensor, you could also damage the a/c hose too and end up in a no run position . you look like you have what they refer too as the "late build damper". the dorman one is the "early build".it is supposed to stop this problem as it reingeneered
it fit fine with no problem. it is listed as the replacement. since it does not have the cover piece it is easier to install too i found
the only hard part is to get the damn crank bolt loose!!!!!!! busted knuckes, few beers it came loose
i had to do this by hand with no air tools at home in the driveway, couldnt get it to the shop
hope this imformation helps as the pic above helped me diagnose my truck . i was pulling the hair out of my head trying to figure out what happened. thanks for the pic and the great imfo from all you guys
thanks phil

 

[buckboy]

Thanks for your help. My 2004 Explorer same thing happened used your technique to remove and install. Used $18.00 puller 2 8MM bolts held onto balancer with chain wrench to remove center bolt. Tapped new balancer on with 1 inch round brass in center and torqued down center bolt. caught it before went through crank sensor. Thanks for everybodys help

 

[Marlon65]

The loud noise from my Explorer 2004 at 97,500 KMs was solved by a simple replacement of a new belt. Last year i installed a new bearing at the back of the alternator. The damage last year was obvious, and the sound really came from the alternator. This time, I taught it was again the alternator's bearing since i suspect the bearing i used was not good. When i removed the alternator, there was a little sound. When i asked for the price of a new Motocraft alternator, it was around $ 190. I said, what the heck. So i bought it. After installing it, the irritating sound was still there. Then i installed new pulley bearing ($30) and new tensioner ($45). Again, the noise was still there. Then a tennis friend (works in a car maintenance dealership) said maybe it's the belt. I said how can it be the belt since it looks very very good. He said small stones get caught in it and creates the noise. So i removed the belt, brushed it with water, and checked thoroughly the internal groves. Indeed there were small stones, less than a millimeter in diameter. The stones mostly look like crystal stones. After removing about 50 to 100 pieces, i installed it back. This time, the noise was even louder. When i told my friend about it, and had the chance to see it, he poured some water while the engine was running. The noise would go away and would be back after around 20 seconds. He said, definitely it's the belt. He explained that the sidings of the belt must be worn out. I bought my Explorer 2-1/2 years ago at 67,000 KMs and never changed it. I don't know when was the last time the last owner changed the belt. So after installing a new Motorcraft belt at $25, the noise was gone. To date, i still can't believe how an old lovely looking belt could make a loud noise like that. Charge to experience God bless to all.

 

[XChevyRangerGuy]

Thing I discovered about Ford v6 belts is that if you get coolant anywhere near them they are toast. No saving throw, no recovery. I have spoiled more than my share of belts by this simple mistake. You can get anything else in the world on them and they are just fine, but one drop of glycol and forget it. Just go buy a new belt. It dose not matter if the belt is five minutes old, it's gone. I've replaced every pully in the route, to no avail. Stupid, yes, but that is the case. Sorry.

 

[XChevyRangerGuy]

Adendum to my last post; Clean the pullies throughly with brake parts cleaner and a STIFF wire brush while the belt is off. Seriously, take half an hour and do it right. There are no quick fixes. It is the right way or a "duct tape bandaid". If you are not going to do it right, then don't wine when it dos'nt work.

 

[Marlon65]

As a follow-up on my case, which i said was finally solved by installing a new belt. Well, the noise came back after three weeks. It became louder and louder after just ignoring it for a week. When i had the chance to visually check it, i was surprised to see that the harmonic balancer was exposed. It was exactly the same case with the photo by MMERIAUX. The installation of the new balance cost around $750 through a friend mechanic, who had to release the R134 aircon gas in the air to be able to remove the condenser and radiator. But i think i read somewhere that with the right tools, you don't need to remove the radiator and condenser?

 

[b4u2]

This info was really helpful. I had the same problem with my hamonic balancer. I got the torque bolt loose last night. I went to use the pulley puller I rented from advance auto parts but none of the bolts to "grab" the pulley are long enough. Anyone know the correct length? The bolt that came close in the kit was marked M8-1.25x80mm. The bolt seems to fit the thread in the pulley but is about an inch to two inches too short. Thanks

 

[Martoon77]

1999 Ranger squeaking belt

I had the same exact issue on my 1999 Ranger 3.0 liter. At first it would only squeak when it was raining or very humid, but now it squeaks constantly. I tried the spray-on belt dressing but it made it worse. There used to be a crayon-style dressing but I can't find that anymore so I tried candle wax but it worked only temporarily. I tried spraying WD-40 on each pulley to no effect until I got to the A/C compressor. When I sprayed WD-40 between the moving and stationary parts (clutch?) the noise went away, but came back in 30 seconds or so. This is repeatable. The A/C works OK, but wondering if I need a new compressor or just the pulley/clutch...

 

[Marlon65]

Check for the crank pulley. If it's off center a bit, or you notice something coming out a bit, then it is the pulley getting distached with the crankshaft. The crankshaft is connected to the pulley merely by a round rubber between each other. The absorbs the vibration between the two but it is not a durable. For my Explorer 2004, it had to be changed in 2011 at around 100,000 kilometers. At first i didn't believe the picture from the previous contributor, it did happen to me. I guess your model 1999 crankshaft pulley assembly is more durable than the 2003-2006 models.

 

[whitener]

hi guys
this is my first post
im a professional mechanic for the phone company. this happened to me this week with my 04 xlt with 74000 miles suddenly. the pulley broke loose from the damper. it is junk.No odd noises or vibrations from the engine other than the slipping belt. ford does have special pulling and install tools, not cheap.
i used a steering wheel puller with the metric bollts . i loosened bolt then pressed off pulley slightly . i had to remove puller loosen bolt and then repull damper till it finally came off several times. install was fairly easy , tap on lining up key way then pulling in and torquing bolt
i replaced my harmonic balancer with one from dorman 594-111 and motorcraft crank sensor dy1061. they cost me 61.87 and 17.94 respectively.dorman makes the "help" or motormite brands you might see in parts stores. you definetly shouldn't run the truck like this, besides taking out the crank sensor, you could also damage the a/c hose too and end up in a no run position . you look like you have what they refer too as the "late build damper". the dorman one is the "early build".it is supposed to stop this problem as it reingeneered
it fit fine with no problem. it is listed as the replacement. since it does not have the cover piece it is easier to install too i found
the only hard part is to get the damn crank bolt loose!!!!!!! busted knuckes, few beers it came loose
i had to do this by hand with no air tools at home in the driveway, couldnt get it to the shop
hope this imformation helps as the pic above helped me diagnose my truck . i was pulling the hair out of my head trying to figure out what happened. thanks for the pic and the great imfo from all you guys
thanks phil

ok new to this so bear with me i changed the harmonic balancer and still have an issue with the serpentine belt it is riding up on the harmonic balancer the front side tryed shimming the balancer out i know not the smartest thing but just tring to see if it would help no luck all the other pullrys seem to be in line but still have the same issue two new belt but the only one that seems not to ride on the front of the balancer is the old belt with the front rib cut off if any ideas of some expert advice would help tremedously thanks

 

[jfkeats]

The loud noise from my Explorer 2004 at 97,500 KMs was solved by a simple replacement of a new belt. Last year i installed a new bearing at the back of the alternator. The damage last year was obvious, and the sound really came from the alternator. This time, I taught it was again the alternator's bearing since i suspect the bearing i used was not good. When i removed the alternator, there was a little sound. When i asked for the price of a new Motocraft alternator, it was around $ 190. I said, what the heck. So i bought it. After installing it, the irritating sound was still there. Then i installed new pulley bearing ($30) and new tensioner ($45). Again, the noise was still there. Then a tennis friend (works in a car maintenance dealership) said maybe it's the belt. I said how can it be the belt since it looks very very good. He said small stones get caught in it and creates the noise. So i removed the belt, brushed it with water, and checked thoroughly the internal groves. Indeed there were small stones, less than a millimeter in diameter. The stones mostly look like crystal stones. After removing about 50 to 100 pieces, i installed it back. This time, the noise was even louder. When i told my friend about it, and had the chance to see it, he poured some water while the engine was running. The noise would go away and would be back after around 20 seconds. He said, definitely it's the belt. He explained that the sidings of the belt must be worn out. I bought my Explorer 2-1/2 years ago at 67,000 KMs and never changed it. I don't know when was the last time the last owner changed the belt. So after installing a new Motorcraft belt at $25, the noise was gone. To date, i still can't believe how an old lovely looking belt could make a loud noise like that. Charge to experience God bless to all.

This is my first post, but I too had the squeaking noise going on. After changing thr belt tentioner and the idler pulley, and still no change. Then reading the water trick, tried that and it worked for 20 seconds and then it started again...so changed the belt and problem solved...thanks.