So a few months ago I would occasionally hear what appeared to be a slight squealing noise from a pulley when I started my truck. It was very intermittent, so I didn't think much of it.


After a few weeks, I realized I was only hearing it on colder mornings - it would also go away rather quickly. I bought a mechanic's stethoscope, and figured I'd get to it on a slow day.


Today, I finally broke out the scope and tried to figure out the source. Didn't really find any pulleys making noise, and I did notice that when I shut the truck off, it squeaks for a second or two as it comes to a complete stop.


My dream of finding a bad pulley or perhaps a power steering pump was crushed. I had hoped to do a little Easter wrenching and put this noise to rest.


So, I did what any good mechanic would do - I Googled the issue.


I'm reading that it could be the belt. Certainly wouldn't bother me too much as that is an easy fix. The belt isn't too old - about 4 years and 20 - 30K on it.


However I'd like to ask the all knowing FTE crowd for some assistance in confirming what is wrong.


I took a few pics of the belt and can take a video of start/stop if that helps.


Thanks in advance!

 

How does the belt tension feel?

The majority of belt noise has to do with pulley alignment, but I've never had any luck tracking that down. A good bandaid fix is a Gatorback belt. The ridge design is supposed to minimize squealing. I installed one of these last time I had a belt noise issue and it quieted right down.

Continental

 

Belt tension feels pretty good. I can barely get it to go 90 degrees, so if anything its tight.


Is there a way I can confirm that it is indeed the belt?


I just went and started it up before I checked tension for the heck of it. Not a peep except for the little squeak when I shut the truck down. As the motor may be a little warm and its hot out, I thought perhaps it is a bearing going bad that only makes noise when its cold.

 

It's pretty rare for anything BUT the belt to make a squeaking noise. But stranger things have happened.

If it were my truck I'd replace the belt and go from there. Remember that most of the time it's not a bad belt that causes squeaking, but misaligning pulleys that cause some funny belt wear. Grab a Gatorback or Continental Poly-V and see if that solves your issue.

 

My belt sounds just like yours but it's not enough to bother me.

The first start on a cold morning the belt has a faint squeal for about a minute and goes away. You have to be standing in front of the truck with your head by the grille to hear it.

And every time I shut the truck off it makes that 1 second squeal. It sounds normal to me.

 

It may be the belt. I had a similar problem on my previous truck. Started squeaking when cold and within a short time turned into a constant squeal. I was convinced it was a pulley but I could not determine which pulley was bad so as a starting point I changed the belt and to my surprise that solved the problem.

I hope this helps. Good Luck.

 

I replaced all pulleys and the belt with motorcraft parts. 80 dollars. Rockauto.

less than 1 hour of work.

2012 with 140,000 miles.

if belt fails... you are on the side of the road calling... no limping home...

1 pulley bearing had movement and another bearing was DRY and was ringing... no cracks in belt.

 

a little trick to stop the squeal so that you may be able to hear if it is a pulley or not is either gold bond or baby powder both or a Crayola crown peel the paper back and while the engine is running let the crown rub the belt till noise is gone and then you can give the pulleys a listen