%$@*&% idler pulley squeaking!!!
 

Squeaking coming from the PS / AC idler pulley area. Determined this by using a paper towel tube and listening through it until I found the source of the squeal.

In the process of trying to find and stop the squeal, I have replaced the PS pump with a known good one and also swapped the idler pulley with another - it still squeals.

I was able to stop the squeaking for a moment by taking the belt off and coating it in Armor All as a sort of belt dressing. Worked for a minute or so and then started squealing again. I replaced the belt with a brand new one and it stopped squealing for a while and started up again. :wallbash:

Anyhoo - best I can figure is its not the bearing squealing but the belt seating surface - as if the belt is not laying quite flat on the pulley and is slightly twisting (squealing) on the pulley. I notice a thin line in the middle of the belt that seems to have worn the letters off the new belt somewhat faster.

Has anyone else had this problem? I have been messing with it for weeks and I just can't stop the canary under my hood!!! :mad:

I am thinking the accessory bracket might be misaligned just a bit? I can't see it with my eye and it looks fine - but maybe I left a spacer or shim out somewhere that causes the pulley to be just slightly out of parallel with the main pulley?

I need help. This sucks. I thoroughly searched, tried to fix it myself several times, and failed. :icon_tdow

Buy a new belt. Clean all of the pulleys thoroughly with rubbing alcohol. Be sure to get in to each individual groove.

I've had this issue with other vehicles. If any oil or antifreeze (which has oil in it) gets on the belt, then it will squeak. Some belts will also squeak as they wear.

As far as alignment goes, there is no shim in the stock setup. It should line up as each components bolts on. If you are wondering if you are missing any pieces than review the FSM. It will show how each piece goes together. It's pretty straight forward, I'm sure it's not an alignment issue.

I alleviated the problem by doing this.

^^^ No.

Not the problem. new New NEW belt. Worked for a few minutes and started up again.

Same problem i used to have. Took out my a/c thinking that it was the compressor. But the squeeling was still there. Replace the idle pulley with another one still there. Finally decided to get the one from Pettit Racing and the squeeling was gone.
Check those bearing on the pulleys is known to go bad.

Had the same problem - really couldn't tell where the squeek / squeal was comng from but somewhere around the AC or idler or PS pump. Changed belts to goodyear belts - didn't get rid of the squeek. I pressed a new bearing into the idler - no joy. I replaced the idler - no joy. I bought an aluminum pulley set (water pump, E-shaft, PS pump) - no joy. Took the AC compresser pulley apart and noticed corrosion and other junk in the grooves. I wire brushed the pulley clean to bright metal and the problem went away.

I had the same problems about 4 weeks ago. swapped the bearing for idler pulley, tighten the belt and it's gone.

Ditto. It's a common problem.

Where can I pick up a replacement bearings for the idler pulley? Also can the bearings in the pettit one be replaced?

Also, for no good reason, some idler pullies fit better backwards. Mine was like this. I've seen some FD's with the lip on the idler pulley towards the back of the car, mine liked it with the lip to the front of the car. The lip can push on the edge of the belt and misalign it slightly, giving you the squeak.

Dale

Napa has those bearings.

Mine will not fit like this as far as I can tell. Mine has the lip to the back of the car. How do you get it on the other way? I'll try anything!!!

I CAN'T STOP THE FUCKING SQUEAK!

I even took the bearing cover off and greased it. No good.

It makes the car totally miserable to drive! I hate this fucking POS. :icon_tdow

I had the same problem, orderd a new pulley from Ray same thing. I got it to go away by adjusting the idler pulley while the car was at idle till the squeak went away. Shut the car down & check belt tension, then hopefully you should be good to go.

^^^ Its not the pulley, its the belt.

Swapping the belt with a new one works for about 5 minutes... then it squeaks.

Ive swapped out the pulley with another known non-squeaker... and it squeaked. :(

I know you said you swapped the PS pump with a known good one, but did you change PS pulleys too? Even though you tracked the sound to the idler both pulleys are in close proximity and one is metal while the other is plastic...maybe that somehow fooled you. Speculating the PS pulley itself might be warped somehow and is messing up the belts??? Just thinking outloud...something to try.

^^^ PS Pulley is Aluminum:

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a70...s/SDC10273.jpg

Anyhoo, while messing around with washers for shims or anything I could think of, I decided to spray degreaser on the belt (because I was out of Armor All).

Armor All would silence the belt for a few minutes but the degreaser has worked for about 15 minutes so far. I even washed it off with the hose and it is silent. I mean the squeaking was even louder than the bridgeport!!! :scratch:

Maybe I'm getting oil or PS fluid on the belt somehow... causing it to squeak.

I don't know either. I'm thinking out loud.

Your problem is the AC pulley.

Take off the AC pulley and wire brush the belt surfaces to clean bright metal. Make sure all junk is out of the grooves.

^^^ Not the AC pulley.

Goddammmit!!!! The squeaking is driving me FUCKING CRAZY!

i had a issue like this not too long ago. I replaced the idler pulley, bearing, belt and the noise was still present. I think what some people mentioned is on the right track of thinking. The final fix for my squeak was cleaning the belt.

Basically in the grooves of my belt there were little tiny flakes of METAL?!? I know this because I could pick the flakes up with a magnet. I chalked it up to the other metal pulleys like the ac/ps/"crank" getting old and embedding the material into the belt (which was new btw).

I suggest pullling the belt off, flipping it inside out, and really examining up close the grooves for ANY and all foreign material. I believe this is your issue because you said the noise goes away for a few minutes with a new belt but then comes back (after its been "contaminated")

It might not be you fix but it was mine and pulling the belt and checking it takes all of 10 mins so I'd give it a shot.

I hate it when searching threads like this and the solution to a problem is never posted.

Well - here is what it turned out to be:

The winner is PS Pulley. Apparently my aluminum pulley decided to start squealing for no apparent reason even though its been on the car for miles and miles of silent service. Ive removed it and looked at it and can't figure out what the dealio is but who cares??? I replaced it with the stock plastic pulley and I get SILENCE! SWEET SILENCE!!!! (Except for the music of the bridgeport) :D

I just started having these problems and it sounds like it is coming from the PS and/or idler.

Going to pull the belt off this weekend and check out the belt and pulleys. Do you know how I can tighten/loosen any of the pulleys?

air tools are best

strap wrench works good too

Tips:

Use an impact wrench to remove the PS pulley - any other way you may break it.

When replacing the idler bearing - you can get it from Grainger part number 6L052. Cost me 29 bucks to my door and they shipped it out fast.

Any prizes for the winners? :icon_tup:

Glad you found it. Would've driven me crazy too. Where did you get the pulley?

^^^ It was such a simple fix. Shoulda listened to ya mang. :) Prizes? You can have the old pulley! Its real pretty and makes a lot of noise. Kind of like an ex-girlfriend.

It was one of those ebay Ralco? pulley kits.

I have a pretty good idea what happened: SOMEONE :) was helping me during the last engine swap and wanted to remove the PS pump. They tried taking the pulley off by wedging something inside the pulley so they could take the center nut off (instead of using an impact) before I yelled at them.

I think the pulleys were really nice for the money and would get a replacement if one came up but Ive only seen the whole set for sale.

Finally got time to work on my belts today. Took off the idler/PS belt and started the car and there was no squeak. So we know the problem is going to be either the idler or the PS pulleys. Took a rag and just cleaned the belt off as well as put some WD40 on the bolt/behind the pulley, put the belt back on, started the car up and so far the squeaking is gone. We will see if it comes back.

I seriously cannot fix the squeaking.

I rarely drive the car because it sucks so bad.

I hate this shit.

i ended up figuring out mine had a misaligned pulley. I made a shim out of a washer that helped line everything up and bam, no more squeaking.

if its that bad, and you can't figure it out, ever consider throwing in the towel and paying a shop? Just cuz they don't know rotaries doesn't mean they can't figure out the squeak from a belt

YES I have - but the shop I asked would not guarantee it would stay fixed. *I* can fix it for a day or two at a time or so with a new belt.

Ive considered throwing in the towel and selling the whole car. :) No one wants it - maybe cause it squeals so much.

1. Ive changed the belt several times with different brands. Works for a day maybe.
2. Tried disassembling and greasing the old idler pulley. No good.
3. Replaced the idler pulley with a brand new one. Worked for a day.
4. Replaced aluminum power steering pulley with a good clean stock one. No good.
5. Cleaned the AC pulley with a wire brush. No Bueno.
6. Belt dressing. Worked THE WORST! Screamed 100X louder.
7. Tried shimming the pulley with a washer or two. No good.
8. Tried flipping the pulley over like some have suggested BUT I cannot see how this is even possible. If I flip my pulley over so the lip faces inwards, the pulley lip rests against the idler pulley bracket and cannot spin. How is this done? I have seen cars with them flipped over but mine does not work this way at all.
9. The squeaking is the worst when I start the car and will squeal for 10-20 minutes. After a while it quiets down but still is louder than my loud ass exhaust.

something else is going on then and its not just the idler pulley.

7dust.... can you post some detailed pics of the pulley setup maybe one of us can spot something that is not right.

Also, I know you have been changing the belt and the problem goes away for a day or two. Just to make sure the squeak is coming from the p/s a/c belt if you remove it completely, and start the car does it still squeak?

How have you been setting your belt tension? If you tighten the belt or loosen the belt does the squeel change?


John

HAH - spent the extra cash and ordered a Goodyear Gatorback Belt.

Silence. Sweet Silence. Been that way for weeks now.

Dayco and Gates can Suck IT!!!

Glad to hear you got the problem taken care of :lol:

+1

My pulley just start chirping at me.... LOL

I recently ordered a new idler pulley from Ray Crowe at Malloy Mazda. Still using the belt I got from him too. One stop shopping for great parts w/ Ray. :)

Alberto, we'd better all pray that Ray never retires or we're SCREWED :lol:

Ya know I think about that quite a bit. The new guy should be thoroughly briefed!! :D

Gatorback Accessory Belt Part Number (for stock pulleys):

4060410
6PK1040
(both numbers are on the same package)

It really is a well constructed belt. I bought the belt because I actually hung my head low and took my car to a mechanic (and I NEVER do that) and he showed me a Gatorback belt side by side to one of those Gates or Dayco (FUCK YOOOOOU GATES AND DAYCO) jobs.

I am going to measure alt/waterpump belt next - I have the pineapple idler pulley so will have to get the length for that.

As a matter of fact, I think a Gatorback belt is the only belt I'll ever buy from now on.

Just kind of curious if anyone know the belt size that I need. I'm finding it a bit difficult to navigate though it all on the Summit website. I need both belts for OEM configuration (including airpump, ps, and ac). Thanks in advance.

http://www.summitracing.com/search/D...?Ns=Rank%7cAsc

I started to get the squeak too. But like stated in the first page, if any oil or antifreeze gets on the belts they'll squeak.

I'm still figuring out if that was my problem because I did spill about a tablespoon of coolant out of the filler cap but I don't know if it went on the belt. During the drive it will squeak like crazy. During driving and when stopped. It actually sounds like a really loud SC whine. I thought maybe the coolant dried off from the 45 min drive in this 60 degree weather. No when i got home it was squeaking away. Pretty embarassing since my neighborhood is quiet. Waited 2 hours for the car to cool off. Then started it again and same noise, just not as loud.

Maybe it is the belt? Maybe its from the coolant I spilled. I really hate when there are many factors when I'm trying to source a problem..why can't the squeak just happened? Why does the little incidents just tack on the "its probably the cause" list?

I hate when that happens.

I'm now on my 3rd idler pulley that was squeaking. Turned out the problem all along was the bolt 15966 #N3A115966 and the pulley shaft 15932 #N3A115932 that both had strip threads and not the idler pulley 15940 N3A11594Y. Also replaced the belt with a new Gatorback #4060400 6PK1015 as I have the pettit power pulley but for reference the stock configuration belt is #4060410 6PK1040, both these #'s are with A/C and P/S stock pulleys. Another thing torque the nut at the front of the idler pulley to no more than 30 lb. as over torquing also causes squeaking. After two years I think I finally resolve this, I hope!


http://www.jimellismazdaparts.com/im...ze/EF09311.jpg

^By the way, in the pic above it shows the idler pulley with the lip out in the FSM it shows the lip in. Tried the lip out and smoked a belt. And by smoked the belt I literally smoked and locked up the idler pulley.

https://www.rx7club.com/attachment.p...8&d=1340542715

^ I had the same problem and flipped the pulley cause this tread said it was cool. Straight locked up and smoked the belt too. Replaced my idler pulley wasn't it either. I'm going to try those two bolts you mentioned next I'm almost sure thats the problem.

Bumping an old thread. It looks like Goodyear Gatorback brand got changed to Continental Elite a few years ago, but same part number 4060410 applies.


https://www.autoserviceprofessional....aces-gatorback






According to this Continental parts finder website, it looks like they are phasing out the gatorback-style belt and replacing it with an OEM-style belt with simple grooves. Continental Elite The site doesn't exactly claim that the OEM-style belts are as good, it mentions that they are easily recognizable for technicians... presumably some people thought the design of the gatorback looks like a cracked belt?





I haven't visited my local auto parts place to check, but FYI it might be hard to get the elite / gatorback style belts soon if not already.