the belt chirps. Squeals if I spray a little belt conditioner on it. I am guessing time for new tensioner pulley. But, look at middle pulley in photo. Belt overhangs outboard edge by about 1/32”. Pulley misaligned?
Belt squeals (could it be the tensioner?)
- Thread starter JimNH
- Start date
the belt chirps. Squeals if I spray a little belt conditioner on it. I am guessing time for new tensioner pulley. But, look at middle pulley in photo. Belt overhangs outboard edge by about 1/32”. Pulley misaligned?
FloridaMan
New Member
Either tensioner bearing has worn out which is most likely or you have a pulley that come loose or a bearings bad on another pulley...most next likey we will be water pump
OP
More info. I am changing the radiator fluid so I have to do many cycles of drain, refill, run car to warm up, cool down, drain, refill...
During one of these repetitions last night, I sprayed a tiny amount of belt dressing on the ribbed side of the belt. Now instead of chirping once in a while, it squeals non-stop at idle, and doesn't quiet down until the rpms go up over about 1500. This would seem to point to the belt vs. the water pump, but the belt visually seems to be in great condition. I used a mechanic stethescope to listen to all the bearings and the tensioner bearings are definitely grumbly, but the don't seem to be the cause of the squealing. It's really really hard to isolate the source of the noise which is frustrating. I might just try ordering the belt and the two pulleys today and seeing if that stops it.
During one of these repetitions last night, I sprayed a tiny amount of belt dressing on the ribbed side of the belt. Now instead of chirping once in a while, it squeals non-stop at idle, and doesn't quiet down until the rpms go up over about 1500. This would seem to point to the belt vs. the water pump, but the belt visually seems to be in great condition. I used a mechanic stethescope to listen to all the bearings and the tensioner bearings are definitely grumbly, but the don't seem to be the cause of the squealing. It's really really hard to isolate the source of the noise which is frustrating. I might just try ordering the belt and the two pulleys today and seeing if that stops it.
FloridaMan
New Member
OP
I picked up a new belt and one of each of the belt tensioner and idler pulleys. I'll change it out and see what happens. The two pulleys are not (supposed to be) the same. the idler pulley has a shallower offset/thicker bearing. I think that my idler pulley must be the same as the tensioner pulley. If you go to Autozone, they have the same part no., but Rock Auto shows them as separate part no's. I went to Pep Boys and they had both, and they are different. My wife is getting nervous that I keep taking her jeep apart...so I had better go get this done.
Let us know what you find. Don't end up turning the wife's Jeep into a monster on 40s, then it will be apart forever 
OP
the idler pulley was in fact incorrect - should have been the one with the fatter bearing - they are not the same! replaced both and the belt and it's super quiet now! I also put new flexible cable guard sleeving on all the exposed wires around the intake and it looks much better. The damn antifreeze is still coming out orange...how many times do I have to fill and drain this damn thing to flush it?
Oh yeah, I usually get multiple gallons of distilled water to flush everything out.
OP
A weird thing happened. the belt i bought is a wee bit longer than the one I had. It does not fit in the same path/pattern that the old one did. see photos. When I looked online for confirmation, I saw at least three different routing schemes for the belt on various 2007-2011 JK's - but they all work. The first pic is the old belt, the second is the new belt routed the same way, and the third is the new belt routed the only way it fits.
