Belt Squeal/PS Pulley Stall-out Question

Hi All,

1GR-FE, 2013 automatic 4x4, 113k miles: After replacing my lower idler pulley and belt (with OEM parts), I have a quick squeal upon startup. I also noticed that when parked, if I turn my wheels sharp to the left (driver side), the squeal starts again and the truck has a slight shudder until i bring the wheels back center some.

I got under the truck and had my wife replicate the process - when she turns left, I notice the PS pulley stalls out.

I had zero issues prior to replacing the belt.

My theory is that when releasing the tensioner to remove the old belt, the tensioner spring got slightly stuck (because it's old) and now isn't putting the requisite tension on the new belt. I would guess that when turning hard left with no load on the engine, the PS pump/pulley slips from the new belt because there isn't enough tension to keep up with whatever load the PS pump needs.

All the other pulleys are functioning fine, and the belt is routed correctly. My thought is to replace the entire tensioner assembly and hope that fixes it. I guess I could put the old belt back on and give it a test, but they are both OEM. Anyways, ideas? Thanks!

 

whatever you used to pull back the tensioner, go the other direction & add a bit more load to it....
For diagnostic purposes...
get you wrench, breaker bar, whatever it takes....
give it more pressure, that should overcome the sticking spring.
get the tool out & retest...
If noise goes away, your theory is correct.

 

Thanks for the suggestion, I pushed on it a bit with the belt tool today, but not with much force at all. I'll do that this week - I just ordered an OEM tensioner....i'll be due for one someday anyways, even if I can get away with not installing it now. What better time to work in the shop than winter though?

 

On the ford ranger 3.0, the spring gets week & the tensioner arm starts sagging-out....
So the belt instead of riding in the center of a smooth pulley, it rides to the front causing alignment issues resulting in a squeak....
you can visually see a line paint wear on the backside of the pulley where it use to ride...
Probably best to replace but as stated, at least you'll know & buy you some time..

 

OP, I would not rule out your theory.

I can also tell you that I recently replaced my belt with an OEM Toyota and only after a couple thousand miles the belt has self-destructed. I mean it delaminated, threads coming out.

Kind of disappointed in an OEM part as all the pulleys are new, including the AC one and alternator.

 

What a shame. We've got a snow-day off work today, so I think I am going with the Occam's Razor option...the new OEM belt is simply bad. I'll swap the old belt back on and see if there is any change back to normal. Either way, the new tensioner is on the way so i'll be swapping that too at some point.

 

Update: what an absolute shame. The old belt has zero of the issues that the new OEM belt did.

I’ll drive it this week with the old belt to confirm…but not too happy spending $40 on OEM parts to have them not work right.