Ok, this is getting to be a little frustraiting at this point, I have,nt even gotten to replace my o2 sensors in yet! Ok I have asked about this before, but to date this is what I have done, and checked to cure this problem. I have a 99' 2x Sport with the 3.0/auto (it's got the Flex Fuel Motor). My truck has 66k miles on it, I bought it with 22k on it. About 2 years ago (give or take a few months) my belt started sqeeking really bad. I replaced the belt the sqeek went away. About 8 months to a year later, same thing. Replaced the belt squeek went away...for a while. About six months ago, same thing, replace the belt squeek goes away. In the last two months, I replaced the water pump and belt again because it was squeeking after taking it on and off twice (bad water pump first time). So here I am barely 3,000 miles on the new belt, we had some real heavy rains here (Houston), I drove durring a heavy downpore with some water pooling on the road, and since then it started squeeking/squeeling again. While replacing the water pump I inspected all the pullies and tensioner. Every thing seemed ok. The belt seems to have good tension on it as well. Nothing appears to be worn out...???? I am really confused and sick of the squeeling noise. What should I look for or replace now?????

Waves

 

its possible that when you drove through the pooling water you kicked up some oil from your truck onto the belt. you could try spraying belt dressing on it and i would try cleaning off the pulleys etc a belt should last alot longer than 3000 miles heck my truck has the original in it at 85K ill prolly replace it this year. If you buy anything other than a gates belt it could be an inferior product too

 

Well here's another funny thing, when this first happened. I have a cusin who is extremely good with anything mechanical, and a Ford Fanatic, anyway he sprayed belt dressing on it and it would cause the squeeking to subside only for a minute or so, and then it came back worse than it was when we started. So I am kind of scared to go with the belt dressing again. I have also considered maybe moisture in some way, but there are no oil leaks on my truck, I go to the coast offten and rinse the underside on a very regular basis(anytime I go to the coast it gets cleaned) often enough to say there's not much grime built up on the underside or engine comprtment of my truck, a little dust but that's it - I keep it clean. Last time it did this (after the water pump) I went and drove on the highway for about 30 milutes and it went away for a while, but eventualy came back....this is really perplexing me, and the noise just annoys the heck out of me. With the help from my cusin we have really checked every normal avenue to check. My only thought is maybe it's the tensioner, but I assure you the belt has good tension on it...?????

 

I have found this concern on a few rangers that pass threw the shop. It seems that the belts get any water on them and the dry out causing the squeeling noise. I've tried silicon on the belt, smae thing comes back. The only thing I found is switching to the goodyear gater belt. I've done this with customer and my own trucks without the noise coming back.

 

What type of belt dressing did you put on it, I have never seen dressing for serp belts and the stuff for V belts shouldn't be used on serp belts. Have you tried cleaning all the pulleys with solvent and lightly sanding the grooves with fine grit sandpaper.

 

Not sure what brand the dressing was (was not mine), but every belt I have put on was a gates belt(from Orielys), I think I will try cleaning & the light sanding as well, although my engine comaprtment is clean......and go ahead and switch to the goodyear gater belt. At this point I am willing to try anything that seems sensible. Thanx for the info....

 

the only other thing I can think of is by some chance one of the pullies, either grooved or not might be not even. Might want to check to make sure the belt isn't getting pushed out or in causing it to be pinched(side to side) and causing premature wear.

 

Through the addvice I was given the last time this happened, I did carefully inspect the alignment of the pulleys, everything looks like it is lined up perfect. I am going to try taking the belt off, cleaning all the pully's with some simple green, light sanding the groves, and then replacing the belt with the goodyear gator brand you suggested...and hope that works....

 

Ok guys I am almost scared to let you know what I did today. I am still kind of sitting here in dis-belief. Had to go out this evening and did not want to be embarrassed by this load-assed belt squeeking or actualy chirping. So I again carefully insoect the belt, pulleys, and check out the tension on my belt. Everything seemed perfect, so I am thinking I will just go buy a new belt, and tomorow try cleaning and light sanding the pullies. Well I go to Orielies and as I am looking around I see a can of belt dressing. As I stated before, tried this once and it made the squeeking worse, but I figure what the heck I'll try this just for grins before I buy another belt. So I follow the instructions and spray this stuff on the grooved part of the belt that makes contact with the pullies. The chirp, chirp, chirp...goes away but then comes back but just constant squeeling now (this is only while idling). I had to run some errands and figured I would see what would happen after driving a little bit. It made noise any time I was at idle for about 30 minutes, and then started to subside, all of a sudden I pull up at a light, and it's not making any noise. I don't know if it just cleaned something off of the pullies or it made the surfaces of the belt and pullies stick better, so they are not slipping and making the chirp noise....???? I don't even know why I tried this out other than it was on a whim, but so far it's not squeeking and I have found myself pleasanly surprised....

 

Your belt will probably start squeaking again. It is probably slipping badly now and making a noise beyond human hearing.

Once a belt gets hard and starts slipping just replacing the belt will not fix the problem as you found out.

The only real cure is to clean the pulleys (brake cleaner works well) of any belt dressing, anti-freeze, or lubricants applied in error. Sand the surface slightly to remove the "glaze" which is just highly polished surface. Clean the pulleys again to remove sanding dust and any grase etc transferred to the surface. Then replace the belt with a brand new one, not even slightly used. Ken00 knows the drill.

 

Well I had a feeling, after reading what Ken said that since one of my new heater hoses leaked a little at the clamp area that my pulleys had anti freeze on them. Cleaning them makes sense, I can live with that. What I figured I would do was when it starts again, remove the belt and spray all the pulleys down with a solvent, engine cleaner, or as you have suggested brake cleaner. There are several groved pulleys that will take some time to sand properly and then clean again. I have no dilusions that this was a permanent fix, but for now it has done enough to stop the slipage. I figured I would see how long it lasts.....it's supposed to start raining here again today so that will be a good test. In any case, I was just happy to be able to go out last night and not be embarrased by a loud chirpping belt. I don't think the belt is slipping baddly now though, like I said it's practically brand new...I don't think I have even 3k miles on it. In any case, thanks for all of your suggestions and input on this. I will let you guys know if/when it starts again, and will make a post when I spend an afternoon sanding and cleaning the pullies. By the way, since I got to save some $$$ on not ppurchasing a tensioner, and new belts, ect. I did finnaly replace my original motorcraft battery (yes the one from 99') with a new duralast 740 cold cranking amp battery. I figured at 5 1/2 years old....better go ahead and replace it before it lays down on me....have noticed it starting to be a little week in the mornings, it has given me a few sighns that is was getting a little week. Anyway once again thanx for all the help, will update you on the belt squeek later -