There is a bearing in the A/C compressor clutch, with the A/C OFF the pulley spins the bearing, with the A/C ON the pulley spins the clutch and the bearing is not turning. Turn on your A/C make sure the clutch is engaged and if the noise goes away the problem is the bearing in the clutch

 

The idler pulley is not expensive.

 

I pulled the idler and tensioner idler off tonight a clean the crud off of them and soaked the bearings with oil for a while. Put them back on an the squealing went away. Locally, the idlers are around $20 a piece but I looked them up from RockAuto and they were around $13, so I will probably go that route, but I will check prices of just the bearings anyway. Anyone deal with RockAuto, how are they?

Thanks,
TC

 

Rock Auto is good. I have bought quite a few things from them. I bought some Granada and Versailles brake parts for my 65 Stang from them.

 

Heres something I just found out, The expensive way. If you have any anti freeze on you belt it will squeal and belt dressing does not fix it. I was told to put " side walk chalk" basic chalk on the belt and the chalk dries the anti freeze and the squeal stops. I did this and was amazed. just something to try. Not to say there could be something else, but try the cheap first.

 

Well I went for cheap. The RockAuto idlers were going to be around $30 with shipping, but I got on eBay and found a pair of bearings for a little under $8 shipped to the door. Same brand as whats in there now. Figure I can knock a couple bearings out for $22.

TC

 

I had a mechanic tell me that he was working on a 1995 Ford F150, V8 engine and he had just got done replacing head gaskets put everything back together went to crank the truck and there was this horrible, squealing noise coming from the back passenger side. He told me he searched everything for hours and then decided to start checking the spark plugs when he did he found one of the spark plugs on the passenger side, had a dent in the side of it, which was allowing air/gas to bypass out of the spark plug hole, and that caused a loud, squealing noise he told me he replaced the spark plug, crank it up and it ran great. Could also be the little black hose that’s on top of your valve cover gasket on the passenger side that little silver piece could be stuck.

QUOTE=TC-Countryboy;8455282]Well I went to the local salvage yard on the weekend and found me a smog pump, and changed it out, but the squealing is still there. Well even though the pump wasn't the squealer, it was rattling inside pretty good. Guess I will work my way up through the idlers and save the alternator for last. Just to try to save a few bucks, is it possible just to change out the bearing in an idler? Has anyone tried it?[/QUOTE]

 

I am dealing with this loud, squealing noise that sounds like it’s coming from the back of my engine.. which is a 95 ford f150 v8 302 2wd. I have checked the belt, the water pump, the alternator tensioner everything that I could think of but the noise is coming from the back of the engine. What could cause a loud chirping/squealing noise to come from the back of an engine. I just got done replacing my head gaskets, got everything back together, went to crank the truck and there’s a loud, squealing noise coming from what sounds like the back of the engine. Again I have already ruled out the belt, alternator, smog pump, water pump etc. the noise is coming from the back of the engine one mechanic told me to check my spark plugs and make sure they’re right, but does anybody else have any other ideas? Thanks in advance

 

Well, you should check the alignment of all the pulleys. A misaligned pulley can cause the belt to run incorrectly, leading to squealing. You can check alignment visually or with a straight edge.

 

The noise sounds like it’s coming from the distributor cap area, but again belt bearing and alignment all are working as it should. I need some more ideas