My '92 F150, 4.9 L6, 144,000 mi.,....the belt started sqeaking a while back. Replaced the belt, used soap bars, sprayed WD-40, all the fix-it ideas I could round up. Finally put a Goodyear Gator on and wa-la...no more sqeak!! This weekend I was changing my oil and looking things over and noticed the inside edge(toward the engine)of the belt was frayed. Futher inspection revealed that the belt had moved and a couple of the ribbs on the pulleys were visible and about 1/3 of the belt was gone. I replaced the belt with one of the old ones and, you're right, it sqealled like a chicken hawk. I want to get the problem solved, if there is one, before I invest in a new belt. Could this have been a one time malfuction? How difficult is it to replace the idler pulley?
Thanks to all who contribute to this site. It is very helpful.

 

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 23-Dec-02 AT 10:51 AM (EST)]Mine started wearing an edge, too. I would say that 1/6 of the edge was worn away, and that the wear pattern did surprise me. I changed it and so far the edge hasn't come back so far.

Ok, so you have a 144k truck. You didn't say if you've owned it the whole time.
If you have owned it since new, has anyone worked on any aspect of the pulley system?
If you haven't owned it, you might be able to take your new belt off and use a string to attempt to check the alignment of the pulleys. Use typical sewing thread from a spool, wrap it around and againt eh inside edge of the crank pulley and go up both sides from there. I can't say it won't be hard to see if you do have an out-of-alignment problem, but this technique has worked on other systems I have used to check alignment on.

(Hmm, I'm wondering if a tape measure (you know - spring loaded metal tape-measure) might no work better to wrap around each pulley. As long as you are sure each pulley-wrap is tight against the pulley the overall deflection of the tape might be small enough for you to use as an alignment checker)

Beyond that, many times rebuilt/new alternators will come with a spacer washer and a lock washer. If either of these were actually used behind the pulley (neither were used/needed on my 4.9 alternator changeout - in fact I have the new lockwasher right here in front of me and I play with it while sitting at my computer sometimes) then your alignment is off due to that.

Again, with the belt off (or actually you might be able to do this with the belt on if you grab it and push/pull it hard enough), check to make sure your tensioner pulley arm, and the pulley itself, doesn't have play in it. At oyur mileage the arm and/or the pulley's bearings should be wearing down and be in need of a change soon.

Now of course there's always more that could be wrong (e.g. someone pulled another pulley to do engine work, someone replaced parts, or the whole, sterring pump with a wrong one, etc.), but I would check the alternator and the tensioner pulley since those are more common wear points, then the overall alignment.

Hope you come up with something!

Best,

 

Just so you know, WD-40 has no lubricative properties at all. It stands for "water displacement", if you look at the can it doesn't say anything about lubricant does it? It does everything it says on the can, but thats it. It also evaporates quickly, so after a day or so it's gone.


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Justin - One Happy FTE Member

 

I had the same problem with my 88 302. It kept eating belts. Turned out the pulley on the PS pump wasn't pressed down all the way and therefore caused the belt to ride off center. Make sure your PS pulley is on tight.

Mike

 

Sounds like you installed the expensive belt wrong (just off on one pulley) and it ate itself up. I'd eyeball all the pulleys for alignment and centricity (pay close attention to the idler) and if they're OK, get a new belt and watch it for a minute with the engine running to make sure it's on right.

The proper thing to fix belt squeal is "belt dressing", available most places that sell car parts.