Thought I'd post this up to maybe save someone else time and money.

I've noticed an engine squeal developing for a while now. It's usually when the truck is cold and goes away quickly so I hadn't done anything with it. It got real loud when I cranked it up today so I figured it was time to fix it. Once, a couple of weeks ago I was able to get it to stop by turning the AC compressor off and on so I thought I already knew what the problem was ( you know what assuming does). In the past I've been able to find bad idlers and other components by squirting a small amount of lube on the bearing. I don't like a mess on my engine or truck so I try to keep the amount to a minimum. Just bend the tip of the straw that goes in the can nozzle so you can get it close to the bearing. I started with the ac compressor and sure enough as soon as I shot a little in the gap in the clutch it stopped for a few seconds but then started again. I had been reading several threads about AC clutch issues and someone mentioned replacing the bearing. I figured I would take it apart and see how bad it was. Pulled the pulley and the bearing didn't seem bad at all. I lifted the dust seals and found it fairly dry inside. Took some bearing grease and packed it in. Figured maybe I could use the truck till parts came in. All back together, crank it up and it's quiet for about a minute. Thought I had it but then it starts squallin again. Ok it's a double bearing, maybe there's some gunk or dry area between the bearings I didn't get to. Pull it back off and really pack the grease in this time. Now that suckers gonna be quiet. Back together and it starts squalling right away. What the heck . It's loud. Metal on metal loud. Standing there scratching my head.
I remembered while reading the ac clutch threads several of the Brotherhood mentioned belts causing noise. I was SURE, POSITIVE, CONVINCED this was not my problem. The noise on my truck sounded just like metal bearings going out. Grab the spray cleaner just to rule it out. Little squirt on the belt near the ac clutch and it gets quiet for a second. Maybe I got some in the clutch and that's why it got quiet????? Move to the other side of the truck and squirt the belt..........gets quieter. You've got to be kidding. I stop the engine and clean all the belt I can get to, fire it up and no noise. I guess when I was sprayin the clutch with lube I was getting some on the belt and that was why it would get quiet. When I pulled the pulley off I used a good bit of cleaner to clean the snap ring area of the front of the compressor. I guess some of it got on the belt and that was why it was quiet for a minute after the first try.

Not sure if I got some grease or oil or other substance on the belt when I was cleaning the Valley and working on my leaking ICP sensor about the same time this squeak started. Belt only has about 5K on it. May get a new one anyway.

Sure glad I didn't spend $130 on a new clutch I didn't need.

At least I don't have to worry about my ac pulley bearing for a while

 

I've been noticing an intermittent squeak coming from my pulleys and/or belt. It's not very loud, and it's short squeaks about a second apart. New tensioner and idler pulley.
I have a replacement belt, but I have the annoying pass thru upper radiator hose.

Anyway, this helps. Thanks!

 

with others experiences,I think I will pull serpenteen belt off or put old spare on when flushing cooling system, or any other way of contaminating these belts.

 

Try some belt dressing on the belt. I've never been able to get that stuff to last long; the squeak comes back the next day usually. At least if it quiets down, at least you know the belt is the problem.

 

a bar of soap works pretty good too.

 

Paul thanks for sharing that with us. Up side is you got some grease on the a/c compressor bearing. Did or have you shimmed your a/c compressor clutch since you were working on it? I for the life of me can't recall what the gap should be?/ I think it was .020 when off. I'm glad it was just a belt or belt related problem. I say belt related because I have had or have issues with belts, pulleys, a/c & p/s noises. In my case it must be my ocd that causes these noises to drive me nuts. But to get to my point I once had where the pulley was actually a little cocked due to the a/c compressor being tightened down alittle off. You can check the first and last grooves on your belt for extra wear. What I did is take a straight edge between pulleys then tightened down and that goes for a/c and alt. Just something to think about.

 

My similar experience turned out to be caused by an after market belt. Switched back to my old ford serp and noise went away. Replace with new ford serp later and no noise.

 

Yeah, that works fine too. Just used some this morning to make sure my noise was only the belt . . .