Belt noises?

So I have a loud squeal from the belt area on my 4.0L, when it's cold in the morning. The truck has 94k on the clock. What suggestions do you have on parts for this job? Oem or aftermarket? Think it will hold until spring?
Thanks

 

I replaced my belt and the tensioner pulley on mine at 100k and carry the take off belt in a bed compartment in case of emergency. The pulley bearing did have a little slop in it but it was not making noise. Got the parts at AutoZone. If you do change the belt make sure you look at the youtube video and when taking tension off the belt on the pulley, lock it back with a 1/4" drill bit or Allen wrench.

 

Awesome thanks

 

Parts should be repaired/replaced when they need replacing, not when Spring comes around. Check that belt and replace it asap if it is glazed and/or has cracks in it. Some 'mini' cracks are OK, look at a chart online. The whining noise can also be a bearing that needs replacing. That could be a pulley bearing in an idler, tensioner, alternator, power steering, or water pump. There are many videos on utube to help diagnose them.

 

When you take the belt off to inspect it, spin each component and pulley by hand to see if one creates a suspicious noise.
You can also use a small rubber hose to your ear and move the other end around the engine bay to different pulleys and components to zero in on the noise (that’s with the belt on and engine idling). Don’t touch anything spinning. But getting it close to a pulley that’s bad will be evident in how the sound changes through the hose

If the squeal is loud, start from a distance away and move the hose closer. That way you can stop if it hurts your ear. And always be careful doing this with the belt and fan spinning. Don’t want to snag the hose or a finger in there

 

How good of quality should I go on the belt? Oem, gates or autozone? Does it really make a difference? Granted if I do bearings, Japanese ones is a given. What about the tensioner? Should it be replaced? All or just the bearing? And I guess I should ask about the water pump since it's right there as well. Do it at the same time or wait until it actually has issues? Just trying to understand what will keep me from having to do the job multiple times and what you guys would do. Thanks again.

 

A few words on parts if I could. Having worked in a Toyota dealership - in Parts. I can 100% assure you that OEM is absolutely the highest quality. That said, it's also probably the highest price. Never confuse price with cost though. Price is what you pay at the cash register. Cost is what comes out of your pocket over time. So, you might pay less for an aftermarket part, but end up replacing it more often than an OEM part. Pick your poison carefully here.

The only aftermarket parts I've found to be worth a crap are NAPA Premium line parts. The worst are O'Reilly. And within a given retailer, they usually have multiple different quality / price levels available. Never choose the lowest price part - especially for something mission critical like a serpentine belt or any related parts. And never listen to idiots on the internet who state, "I put Brand X part(s) in my truck after the OEM part failed after 150,000 miles. I've had them in for almost a week now and they're great!" Yea, good luck there.

 

Autozone who still uses them
NAPA, Rockauto or dealer for parts

 

You can go a few routes with how much you want to replace… if it’s an idler pulley, that’s fairly simple. And you might want to do all of them at the same time. Since they’re the same age, etc. the water pump is a bigger job so I wouldn’t do that unless you have to.

personally, I did my water pump as a bit of a proactive project over the pandemic. Cuz I was at 275,000km. And the best thing to do if you’re that far into tearing things apart is to replace all the idlers. But I’d try to keep scope small if you can for now.

It could also be the pulley on your PS pump, Alternator. Those are not too expensive if you go NAPA reman. And I’d just do whatever is giving you trouble for now. If it’s AC compressor that’s more costly. You could diagnose that by turning your AC on while the noise happens to see how much it changes. Engaging the AC clutch might just alter the load on the belt tho and distract from another component that’s the problem.

tensioner is more work than the other pulleys, but not overly difficult. The tensioner, Alternator, and AC comp are so close it’s a little tough to tell which one is making noise with the hose trick. So free spin them with the belt off and see if any sounds suspect

Few ways to attack this one. But I’d say try to keep scope small and focused. But that’s my personal opinion. If you have to dive into the water pump, then do a bunch while you’re in there. Here’s everything I replaced for mine