'92 Ford 5.8 Belt Noise

[PatricksDad]

Next door neighbor's kid has a '92 step-side project truck. He's struggling with a persistent serpentine belt noise. It's more of a chirp than a squeak, and you hear it at belt rpm.

If you dribble an eye-dropper or so of water on the outside of the belt, the noise disappears completely, for 10 seconds or so. The belt and idler pulley are new.

Suggestions?

[VTJUNK]

Could be the pulley on the belt tensioner. Take the belt off and see if there's any play in the pulley or hit the bearing area with some penetrating oil and see if the squeek goes away. If it does, replace the tensioner as I don't believe they sell just the pulley. I replaced the tensioner on my '95 5.8 about this time last year.

[PatricksDad]

We replaced the tensioner assy and pulley with the belt first thing, because the belt needed to be replaced anyway and the tensioner was a little weak.

The weird thing is, if you dribble just a tiny amount of water on the outside, flat part of the belt, the sound goes away. Since the tensioner and water pump are the only non-ribbed pulleys that face this side of the belt, could the water pump pulley be the problem? I'm tempted to chuck it in the drill press and dress it with some 600g or scotch-guard and a little water just to see.

[SpiderGearsMan]

dielectric grease

[PatricksDad]

dielectric grease

How long will that last?

[Beagle]

my 88 squealed until I washed the belt with Dawn. You can also try talcum powder. They used to call it "belt dressing"

[milner351]

I'm guessing you've already checked the water pump itself just to make sure things are lined up right. My '92 F350 351w "chirped" with a Goodyear belt, didn't with a napa gold or gates belt - never could figure that one out.

I like the talcum powder idea - something to "burnish" the mating surfaces. A bar of soap is another good idea - CAREFULLY press the soap into the belt as it's moving - the noise should go away and stay gone at least until the engine gets a good dose of water from a rain storm or running through big puddles. The bar of soap trick worked wonders on '80s cars with about 6 V belts.

[Beagle]

I managed to wrap the belt backwards once on the '88 F150 (still not sure how) and it squealed like a stuck pig, but you notice that real quick when the temp gauge pegs.

[JeffMcKC]

The paint has worn off the water pump pulley there is a different part number pulley for it. or you can parifin wax it if you think its the power steering pulley that needs lined up put the wax on the side of the belt not the bottom. I am betting its the water pump pulley

[PatricksDad]

The paint has worn off the water pump pulley there is a different part number pulley for it. or you can parifin wax it if you think its the power steering pulley that needs lined up put the wax on the side of the belt not the bottom. I am betting its the water pump pulley

You're halfway there. That's the pulley where the noise is coming from, and it's completely without paint, but what I found was a pinhole leak in the radiator right in front of the fan that was lightly misting the accessory drive over time. If you clean everything up, it's nice and quiet, but after about 50 miles, it would start to squeak/chatter again.

We've got a replacement rad and pulley on the way from a friend.

[JeffMcKC]

Good Luck!

[milner351]

Great detecitve work - leaks can cause all kinds of havoc you'd never expect.