72MachOne99GT

Alright guys, another update on that dreaded, god foresaken sqeeling sound that drowns out my exhaust.

I still do not know exactly which pulley it is coming from. But I plan to walk through yesterdays discovery one step at a time.

1st Picture: This is a view of the tensioner pulley, with the black cover/shield that covers the hold in which you place a wratcet or breaker bar to relieve tension. On the bottom of the picture, I have highlighted where the shield comes closest to the pully itself *this will become significant in the next picture.


http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w...g?t=1188328209


2nd Picture: When I removed the black shield piece, I noticed significat scarring on the edge that is nearest to the pulley. Obviously, something is causing the pulley to come into contact with the shield and leading to grinding between the pulley face and the shield. I've circled the damage in a red color if you have trouble seeing it. I also want to note that even WITH THE SHIELD REMOVED, THE SOUND CONTINUES

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w...g?t=1188328304

3rd Picture: Here is some of the scarring that has taken place on the face of the tensioner pulley. Notice the face compared to the smooth black face of the idler pulley just above. I tried to run a red line over the two different faces so that you can notice the difference in their surface.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w...g?t=1188328325

4th Picture: For those of you *namely ROTM* who want to know what our Automatic Tensioner Adjuster, and Tensioner Pulley look like, here is a photo as best as I could get it w/o the shield in place.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w...g?t=1188328369

Any advice would be great.
The belt appears fine, the sqeeling occurs w/o the shield in the way, and its loud and annoying. That's all I can do, hopefully someone has some advice. [:@]


*after 123 edits, I have to use a link to the photos*

Demon 340

it seems to me like the pulley bearing is allowing it to move back and forth. can you replace components of the tensioning setup, or just the whole unit? you mentioned that the noise is only when you bring up the RPMs...while the last vehicle that i had with a serp belt issue seems to have a very different tensioner setup, if all of the damage is around that area, i cant see something else (such as a misaligned pulley) causing the problem. that pulley should never have access to touch that bracket, so something has to be out of alignment, or something is being permitted to move that shouldnt be. the only moving part in that area is the tensioner, right? as in the worn guard does not move, at all, if im understanding the pictures correctly, so it must be the pulley coming to hit the guard, not the other way around.

is there any way that some work could have been done to the front of the engine, and some shims or spacers were not replaced correctly, thus altering the clearance?

72MachOne99GT

You are correct in saying that the bracket is not allowed to move, it's held down in two places that I had to use a wratchet, and a pretty good amount of force to get them free to take off that guard.

As far as I know, nothing has been messed with in the front of the engine, in regards to alignments, pulley spacing, or anything of that matter. I have had the car since the fall of '04 and not done anything of that manner. And I know the previous owner a little bit, and his brother even better, and as far as I know, he has never done anything like that. And the pulleys are all obviously stock.

I'm not sure however about the replacement of the tensioner. I don't know if I can replace certain parts of it at a time, or if I have to change the whole thing out for a new on all at once. I would imagine that I'll need a whole new pulley, but hopefully not that adjuster part that is to the left of it.

And as I have mentioned before, maybe not in this thread, the squeeling started last monday after going through about 3-4 inches of water on my way home from my GF's house.

STP belt dressing was applied a day or two afterwards, but only worked for about 15 seconds.

2002GTAUTOVERT

id pull off the pulley that is damaged and check the spacing. if there isnt any most likely the bearing inside the pulley are gone. whether some water got in them somehow and caused pressure, or they just wore out the pulley will need to be replaced itll run you about $20 at a dealership.

as for the pulley wobbling. ive never seen a pulley, even with bad bearings wobble usually just a god awful noise. id pull it and see whats going on behind it.