Subscribing... I'm trying to figure out a squeal as well on my buddy's truck. Only happens when the fan kicks on. New fan Clutch, New belt but old tensioner pulley. I have suggested to him that we scotch-brite the smooth sided pulleys and go from there. I will keep you guys in check as long as he is willing to continue the search and fix. Any other advice will also be greatly appreciated.

 

I feel for your buddy. Mine has progressed from a very soft chirp every 5 seconds or so to a constant "chirp chirp chirp chirp...". Kinda embarrassing, especially when the truck runs great otherwise.

As far as advice goes, I think the OP's idea of listening thru a piece of PVC pipe with the engine running was a pretty good idea although I haven't tried it myself. Might be worth a shot

 

^^

 

Couldn't do any checking on the truck yesterday because I had to repair the washing machine.

This evening I removed the newer motorcraft belt. While I did that, I took a straight edge piece of aluminum and did a check like Shake-N-Bakes pictures in Mark (ScaldedDog's) thread. I don't think I checked the correct location for straightness. My check was from the grooved pulley of the tensioner to line-up with the p/s pump pulley.



Oh well, I have to check on that line-up later when I get to that point, again.

I didn't clean off the idler pulley on purpose. That's gonna be my next move on testing.

I installed the old serpentine belt. I started the truck and no squealing. I'm gonna run it like that for a few days to see if the squealing comes back.

Tyler, sorry to here you had to waste the money on the tensioner and pulley. I hope you find a good deal on water pump.

Scotty, the scotchbrite idea is going to be next if this old belt starts squealing again. Hope you find the problem with your buddy's truck.

Andrew, if this old belt turns out to fix the squeal, I'm gonna clean off the new belt like Alan (BigAlsPSD) mentioned in Mark's (ScaldedDog's) thread. If that doesn't fix it, I'm gonna buy a new belt.

I did price the tensioner and idler, and prices I got were $320 @ Ford, $200+ @ RockAuto and Amazon, but, the best price I found was $128 @ Napa.

If it gets to that point, I'm gonna go Napa.

I'll update the thread as the process of elimination occurs.

PS: Metal pipe might give a better sound for listening, but, I gotta say.....be careful with either pipe. Get a good grip and plant your forward hand on a fixed object so you got complete control of that pipe (kinda like when first learning to shoot pool with cue stick). Good luck.

 

For some reason, my picture didn't come through on the last post.

Oh well, too late to figure it out now. Time to sleep, I'll figure it out later.

 

I'll try swapping my old belt back on tonight as well, but I'm pretty sure it was squeaking when I replaced it which is what prompted me to do so. Thanks for the update Rich.

By the way I confirmed last night that Motorcraft YS238 is the correct idler for our trucks.

 

Had the same problem. Changed idler pulley, tensioner and I almost changed the AC clutch. It was the belt. Only a little over a year old. Got a OEM Motorcraft on eBay for $40. Now I got 2 backups. A lot of people having belt issues. Must be global warming. We need to pay more taxes to fight it.

 

Update

With the old belt, no squealing this morning, after work, after the post office, or at home.

Since I bought the new belt eight months ago I decided to call the Ford dealership and ask about warranty. They said there is a warranty, one year or 12,000 miles with the receipt. The new belt has 10,700 miles. I will be taking it back there tomorrow and exchanging it for a brand-new belt.

It's looking promising, but I'm not convinced it's the belt yet.

Tyler, I emailed ford parts.com the other night the question "what's the difference between the YS238 in the YS287"? They emailed me an answer saying the YS238 is for the dual alternator and the YS287 is for the single alternator. I've got the single alternator. Kind of weird though because the YS238 is only $53 and the YS287 is $164. Puzzling. Thanks for looking into it though.

Mike, haha, Global warming or Cold-snap? More taxes...uuugh.

 

Update

Went by Ford Dealership Thursday and replaced newer belt under warranty.

Installed the belt when I got home. Started the truck and no squealing.

Yesterday, day off from work and ran errands all day. No Squealing.

I think the engine squealing issue is ok, now, so I'm 'Calling It Good'.

Thanks to all who helped me troubleshoot my issue.

Reps sent out.

 

Congrats on figuring it out. I had to install a set of four separate wireless Chassis Ears on my accessory drive system in order to isolate the bearing noise I heard on mine. It really sounded like the water pump, but it turned out to be the top idler pulley.

I removed the pulley, and inserted a grease injection needle (about the same skinny size as a syringe) under the cartridge bearing seal on both sides, and injected grease into the sealed bearing.

When I went to install the idler, a friend had come over right at that moment and I was distracted while installing it. I checked the torque with a torque wrench, and the reading wasn't right. I pulled the idler back off, and turns out I had misaligned and mashed the plastic stabilizing bushing that extends the bearing support on the mounting bolt.

I mic'ed what was left of that busing, and found that the ID and OD closely matched the dimensions of 3/8" high temperature transmission fluid hose. I cut a piece of the this transmission fluid hose, fitted it in lieu of the now mangled plastic bushing, and more carefully reinstalled the idler.

Noise went away. We'll see how long my farm fixes last.

 

Thanks for the info on the idler! I checked to make sure it was the same size as the one I took off my truck and it was. That could be my problem I suppose, but I'm not sure I'm willing to spend $160+ to find out.
Then again, I might not have a choice.

 

Thanks, Y2KW57. Learning from the ones with the knowledge on this forum is really helping me save money.

Creative. I hope it holds up for you.

Hey Tyler, good luck on fixing your problem, but, if I had a choice between $160+ from the dealer and $40 from Amazon or RockAuto, for an oem part, I'd go online.

Or, for the cheapest price and a local shop if I needed to return the part, I choose Napa. I called Napa (at your earlier advice) and I could pick up the Gates part #36234 for $37.99. JMO

 

In my case, I didn't even want to spend $40.00.

I figure the needle through the seal fix cost me about .0000000000004 cents in grease, since I received some grease tubes for free, and I'm factoring the amount of space the tubes occupy in my garage, times the amount of property taxes I pay to have the garage to keep the tubes in.

Injecting grease underneath the lip of the so called "sealed" cartridge bearing:



The seal is a little squeamish of needles, like most of us are, but at least the bearing no longer squealed after this treatment.

 

Good on the savings. So when the issue of the idler pulley becomes the problem in my truck, I will give that option, that you have put forth, a try and see if that works for me. Thanks for the idea, Y2KW57.

 

Ha! That's pretty cool... Great idea. You seem to be full of 'em here lately!

Not to keep on beating a dead horse... But I finally got around to putting my old belt back on today. Don't even know what brand as it's worn off, or was never there. It was on when I bought the truck.
I also sprayed a little bit of Justice Bros 80 lubricant under the water pump pulley, into the area of the bearing.
I haven't heard a squeak since. I should've done one at a time I guess, but I'll know what it was if it comes back.
I guess I might've changed the belt simply because I did the wrap around upper radiator hose and had access... The Gates HD is potentially crap. Time will tell.