belt squeal
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Senior User
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 357
Likes: 1
belt squeal
Hey all, my '95 F-150 351W E4OD has always treated me right (granted its only been mine offically for a few months, before it was dad's),
but sometime last week I started to notice a squealing belt when I would let off the accellerator completely and coasting up to a stop light. Now I can hear it when giving it light to medium light throttle.
I would appreciate info on what belt, cost of replacement/ease of replacement. As well as any thing else I should look for. She has 124 K miles.
Also she hasn't been getting acceptable mileage (10-12 MPG, that's all I ask) and I was wondering if anybody thinks the cats may be plugged up.
Thanks
~Matt
but sometime last week I started to notice a squealing belt when I would let off the accellerator completely and coasting up to a stop light. Now I can hear it when giving it light to medium light throttle.
I would appreciate info on what belt, cost of replacement/ease of replacement. As well as any thing else I should look for. She has 124 K miles.
Also she hasn't been getting acceptable mileage (10-12 MPG, that's all I ask) and I was wondering if anybody thinks the cats may be plugged up.
Thanks
~Matt
Tuned
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 476
Likes: 5
From: Delaware
The belt for my 93 was $24 at Advance and $34 at Autozone. It should be in this range. Just to make sure it's the belt and not an idler pully give it a shot of WD40 or something. If it quiets down right away it should be the belt. As for the catalytic converters being clogged I'd go with just a tune up. Also, change the fuel filter. Vehicles with fuel injection are much more sensitive to a clogged fuel filter than the old carb cars were. I changed the converters on my 90 Bronco (for nothing) as they looked fine after I cut them off.
Freshman User
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 29
Likes: 0
I recommend a Goodyear Gatorback belt from AutoZone. They are great belts because of the way they are cut...check them out.
I also agree with gov2mod...make sure it's the belt and not the idler pulley that applies tension to the belt. My idler pulley was my problem at about 185K miles...very cheap fix if it is the problem. Nothing to sweet.
I also agree with gov2mod...make sure it's the belt and not the idler pulley that applies tension to the belt. My idler pulley was my problem at about 185K miles...very cheap fix if it is the problem. Nothing to sweet.
Tuned
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 296
Likes: 0
From: north carolina
Before you put that new Gatorback belt on, take a ScotchBrite Pad and "rough up" the idler pulley surface. This pulley tends to glaze, just like brake rotors, and the belt (even a new one) will tend to slip on it, thus the squeal.
Cargo Master
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 2,691
Likes: 6
One other thing to also check is both the tensioner and idler pulley bearrings. Remove the tension in the belt and spin the pulleys by hand. If they give off a grinding sounding noise then they've lost all their grease. The mildest thing wrong is that they're noisy. The worst thing is that one will seize and start burning belts. What may be happening to you is that one is beginning the seizing process. It goes with the drop in mpg.
Last edited by qman; Dec 2, 2005 at 02:36 PM.
