Belt Squeal—Tensioner Arm?

Rob R

Rob R

New Member
Joined
Oct 21, 2020
Messages
6
Location
Austin, TX
Good Afternoon Guys -

Newbie to the Jeep 3.8 V-6 here and have a question.

Background: I just purchased this 2007 Wranger JK 4-door Sahara. It has 170,000 miles on it and a rebuilt engine. The car runs strong and aside form a few ABS codes about steering wheel position, it's pretty solid. Transmission is good and 4WD H and L work.

Problem - the engine makes a belt-squeal type noise. I have tried a little belt dressing on it, and while it definitely silences it for a bit, the squeal is back at the next cold start. I found that by depresssing the belt tensioner with my thumb just a bit, the squeal goes away. I can't locate it to any particular accessory pully unfortunately. There are some similar posts here, but not with the info on the tensioner pulley.

Anyone had this problem before? Any ideas on a good fix?

Thanks!
 
Does the squeal go away once the belt is warm and expanded? It may not be the belt or the tensioner, but the bearing in the tensioner:

 
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Hmmmmm. Now is that French or Russian dressing? Pitch them strait across the plate, and I will hit it out of the park. Just a cold start squeal?
 
Yes guys - squeal when cold, then goes away once warm. I think I will replace the Idler and the Tension pulley.

Thank you for the quick replies - much appreciated!
 
Thanks for the help guys. I replaced the tensioner assembly, and the idler pulley, along with a new belt. It took all three to get the squeal to go completely away, but it is very quiet now.
Thank you again for the help!
 
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Rob R said:
Thanks for the help guys. I replaced the tensioner assembly, and the idler pulley, along with a new belt. It took all three to get the squeal to go completely away, but it is very quiet now.
Thank you again for the help!
Click to expand...

Glad you figured it out, and most importantly, thanks for the update!
 
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I have a 2008 and I changed the pulleys and the belt - very quiet now. I think this must be a 100K maintenance item.
 
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