I have a 99 Ford Ranger 3.0L 4x4. 2 problems.

First Problem: The syptoms are a howling or lower pitched squeel under passing acceleration. I noticed that this lower pitched sound goes away when I turn on the heat, a/c on or off. I am not sure what else to look for.

Second Problem: My pullies have been squeeling for some time during start up but it goes away when the truck warms up. I prevously thought that it was just some water creating the belt squeel, but it has come back after multiple belt replacements. I think the belt issue might be the idler or belt tensioner or power steering (or pump) pully being defective.

Could there be a connection between these two issues?

Thanks guys,
-Jason

 

It's possible both are related. As to the second, I had the same problem and it turned out to be the tensioner. 98 Ranger XLT 3.0V6

 

on the second problem, with the belt off, turn each pulley by hand to see if it rotates smoothly, and freely, or if it is rough and has a kind of grinding noise.

A smooth and freely moving pulley, will need nothing, but if its a rough movment, you will have to replace it, or at least the bearings.

 

I agree with fixing the 2nd problem first. In addition to whats been said, you can clean the pulleys with a wire brush and some solvent, and a new motorcraft belt.

 

Mine does the exact same thing, squeeks on a damp day for about 20 seconds and thats it. I'm replacing my belt soon and if that doesn't work i'm replacing the tentioner. BTW, how do i check the tension on my tentioner. If i take a torque wrench to the thing how much torque does it take the compress the spring, i would like to test it before i replace it.

 

Recently fixed the same sounding problem on my 94 Taurus 3.8L.

It was the idler pulley (the smooth one) that the BACK SIDE of the belt runs on.

It's bearing was smooth turning ( no grinding), BUT it had a LITTLE side to side play (wobble) not much, but it was noticeable, with the belt removed as Ken suggested.

Replaced the idler pulley & fixed the problem, with a all metal one, from AutoZone. Fords idler pulley on that engine was plastic, with a steel bearing insert.

So as has been suggested, remove the belt, clean & check all the bearings on the accessories, idler & tensioner pulleys.

I cleaned my pulleys with Tide, in a garden sprayer, did it once with the belt in place & the engine at idle, so I could clean everything in place, without having to remove the belt & get after each pulley separtately.

Worked ok, but the problem was the idler in my case.

On your 3.0L belt tension question, my manual says the 3.0L has a belt tension indicator, molded into the tensioner's casting & the indicator must fall between the 4deg & 19deg marks on the tensioner.

So there is no need to fool around with torque wrenches, just look at the tension indicator, if it falls between the 4 & 19 degree marks, your good to go!!!!

If the belt is new & the right size, but the tension marks still don't line up, suspect the tensioners spring, maybe it's weak & you need a new tensioner!!!

 

Yeah but that mark is for measuring the stretch of the belt. I wanted to know how much pressure the spring is putting on the belt. If it's supposed to be like 40 ft/lbs of pressure and it's only applying 20 ft/lbs of pressure then it's odviously bad and thats why is squeeks. If anybody knows what it should be, please chime in.

 

My Ford manual dosen't list a specification.