Serp belt

Recently on startup I have been getting a pretty intense squeal. Some days it's light and goes away quickly, and other days it does not. I've searched here for info on changing the belt, my question is, I've also seen guys on here with the similar problem say its one of the idler pulleys. Is there a away to determine if in fact it is just the belt, pulley, or both? I've heard something about spraying water and soap on the belt? Just want to get everything at the store at once so I don't need to make multiple trips. Tia

 

I replaced all of my idler pulleys, tensioner pulley and belt recently. I had a squeel that I pinned down to one of my idlers. With the engine running, it got faster with RPM and didn't get worse when turning the wheel (eliminated power steering pulley), didn't get worse with A/C on/off (eliminated compressor) and didn't get worse with high electrical load (eliminated alternator). Once I figured out it was one of the idlers, I just bought them all and swapped them all in at once and replaced the belt while I had the old one off anyways. I bought all Gates brand stuff from Rock Auto.

 

Take the belt off and spin the idler pullys one at a time. If there making any kind of noise or are sluggish to spin, then replace them. I replaced all my idlers at the same time. Pretty easy and not that expensive to do. While the belts off, check for cracks in it and replace that too if need be. I bought my idlers through Rock Auto as well

 

Got any part # for the idler pullies? How many of them are there? I've got a noise too, but haven't even checked anything out yet.

 

http://www.fjcruiserforums.com/foru...154-idler-pulley-bearing-failure-what-do.html

 

Wow, that is very helpful, +1 for you!