Blower belt idler pulleys - are yours squealing?
- Thread starter fullboogie
- Start date
Replaced idler pulley #1 in your picture... and the squeal remains. I just installed a VMP tensioner with new pulley, so it's not that one either. Ordering idler pulley #2 above the A/C compressor...
Good luck man. It can only be one of the four (including tensioner pulley), so you have two to go. You might as well do them all, because Silvain at BPS suspects that the Thump tensioner, or any aftermarket tensioner, can cause our blower drive pulleys to go bad after a while. Check back in with us and let us know how it goes.
By the way, number 3 requires removal of the water pump pulley. Not that big of a deal, but now you know.
Below are my old pulleys. It's pretty obvious to me which one was the culprit - the grooved pulley on the lower right. Take a look at all the grease being slung out of the bearing towards the the outside of the pulley. This is on the backside, so it was impossible to see when it was on the engine. Honestly, the aftermarket 90mm idler on the lower left doesn't look all that great either.
Sylvan also offers a light weight water pump pulley, if you have to remove that pulley to do #3, that would be a Great time to lighten that water pump pulley also. <<While your there and it is off........
R
Well... I replaced idler pulley #2 in your picture... and the squeal still remains. Ordering the heavy load idler pulley now. I can confirm that it is a pain in the butt releasing the tensioner load on my new VMP belt tensioner each time I replace a pulley. My bearing squeal began long before I installed my VMP tensioner, so in my case it may have just been time for that bearing to go bad. Since I installed my Whipple, I had a Metco aux idler bracket with 90mm pulley which I replaced with a 90mm idler in position #1. Good info in this thread, thanks!
Catmonkey,
How many miles on your car? Are you running the stock tensioner, or an aftermarket high tension one?
Thanks!
How many miles on your car? Are you running the stock tensioner, or an aftermarket high tension one?
Thanks!
Replaced my heavy load idler pulley yesterday and the squeal remains! It sounds like it is coming from the area occupied by the supercharger belt pulleys, so I am going for the accessory serpentine grooved belt idler on the passenger side which felt a little sluggish while spinning with the belt removed and also replacing the smooth serpentine belt idler on the driver's side, which are much less expensive than the s/c belt idlers. Basically every belt idler pulley will be replaced except for the accessory belt tensioner idler which is not suspect. Here are the part numbers I ordered in the order that I replaced them:
Supercharger Belt Idlers
1. VMP Aux Idler 90MM - 90IDLER
2. VMP HD S/C Belt Tensioner - VMPGT500HDT w/ 75MM Idler Pulley
3. Grooved Idler above A/C compressor - 4G7Z-6C348-AA
4. Smooth Heavy Load Idler - 7R3Z-8678-B
Accessory Drive Belt Idlers on order
1. Smooth idler - XR3Z-8678-BA
2. Grooved idler - YW7Z-8678-AA
Supercharger Belt Idlers
1. VMP Aux Idler 90MM - 90IDLER
2. VMP HD S/C Belt Tensioner - VMPGT500HDT w/ 75MM Idler Pulley
3. Grooved Idler above A/C compressor - 4G7Z-6C348-AA
4. Smooth Heavy Load Idler - 7R3Z-8678-B
Accessory Drive Belt Idlers on order
1. Smooth idler - XR3Z-8678-BA
2. Grooved idler - YW7Z-8678-AA
Damn, you are not having any luck at all yet. I hope the next one does it.
Replaced the two accessory drive belt idler pulleys described above, and the cold start squeal/chirping remains. Both of the accessory belt pulleys were on their way out... the grooved idler had a lot of resistance when spinning, so I thought for sure it was the culprit. The smooth idler spun freely but I can hear excessive play in the bearings, so it needed to be replaced also. The only idler not replaced is the accessory drive belt tensioner idler, but rotation is smooth and there is no play, and the squeal is coming from the passenger side. Basically I am done screwing with it. I guess it could be the belts... Gates Racing blue belts with a little wear have been on my car for a few years, but they look fine and don't slip. The noise certainly sounds like metal-on-metal, so maybe my water pump bearing is slowly going out? No fluid leaks and I monitor engine temp constantly so I am just gonna roll with it for now until something fails... then I'll know for sure!
I would have thought you'd replaced the belts by now. I did regular Gates for both with my pulley swap. Change those real quick today and see if that does it. I was not a fan of the green blower belt when I had it. What I do know, and still don't understand, is that spraying brake cleaner on the blower belt temporarily made the squeal/chirping stop - even though the belt had nothing to do with the problem.
One other thing - as you can see from the pics of my old pulleys, you probably won't see evidence of bad bearings until you take that last one off. And even my bad ones spun just fine, so I'm not sure that's a reliable way to determine if they're bad. Anyway, best of luck to you.
One other thing - as you can see from the pics of my old pulleys, you probably won't see evidence of bad bearings until you take that last one off. And even my bad ones spun just fine, so I'm not sure that's a reliable way to determine if they're bad. Anyway, best of luck to you.
You say for sure it's coming from the passenger side? When's the last time you had your A/C serviced? Your compressor might be running dry. Just a thought.
Yes, sure sounds like it is coming more from the passenger side, listening from above and below. I did think about the a/c compressor pulley or clutch. With the a/c compressor clutch engaged or disengaged the squeal is the same, and my a/c works great... never had to have it serviced.
Users who are viewing this thread
