Ever since I've owned my truck, I've been battling (like the title says) an annoying belt squeal that lasts for about 5 or 10 seconds and occurs only on a cold start up.

I have changed the belt, (went with a Gatorback), tensioner and cleaned all the pulleys. The truck has no fluid leaks either.

Both times when I changed the belt and tensioner, the squeal would go away for a couple days then come back.

I have been ignoring it for a while but it's getting to the point where it's annoying others as well.

I have no idea what else it could possibly be?

Any one else have any similar issues or know what I might be overlooking?

Truck mentioned is in my sig.

 

I see you have the 4.9. My truck has the 5.0 but I had an annoying squeek and tried lots of things. New belts it would go away for a while but come back. I finally put a straight edge on the pulleys. I found that the power steering and the air conditioning pulleys were not aligned. I ended up putting some washers behind the large bracket that holds the power steering and a/c. so it brought them farther ahead and lined up better. Finally the sqeal is gone. Ford didn't do a good job with machining or something? That is what i found. Try a straight edge on your pulleys and see.

 

Never would of thought of that actually. I'll take a look tomorrow when I get a chance.. If it is a misalignment issue, wouldn't the belt squeal at higher RPMs and not just on start up though?

 

Mine mainly did it while idling

 

Squeal is usually slip. It mostly happens when the most drag is placed on the accessories. At start up everything is motionless & cold. Cold fluids in the PS pump & the instant drag of an alternator starting to charge with any other electrical demands create resistance.

If you have a 3 bolt side mount alternator you can add washers (1-2 at a time) pretty easily & evenly under the mount & see if you can find a balance where it shuts up at start up. Its what I did.

 

And don't forget that pulleys wear with use. If all else fails, replace the alt and PS pulleys.

 

Check that the flange on the power steering pulley is seated flush with the pump shaft. If it isn't, that can cause the misalignment and belt noise.

 

Thanks to all replies. So I got another chance to look at the pulleys today and I think you may be on to something with power steering pump pulley East302. When the engine is running, the power steering pump pulley looks a little bent. It does appear to be fully seated. I may have to look for a new pulley.

 

So about 3 weeks ago I had my less than year old Gatorback belt get shredded. By this point, it was more than obvious the power steering pulley was the culprit. Not only was it bent, it wasn't seated far enough on the pump's shaft, so I had an misalignment issue as well.

Put a new pulley on there along with a new Gatorback belt and haven't had any belt squeal in about 2 weeks and the truck is my daily driver. Hope this can help someone else if they are having belt squeal issues as I was. Le$$on learned, should of addressed the issue correctly sooner.

Thanks again for the help!