How to determine bad pulley?

arengant · **Posted:** Fri Aug 17, 2012 9:20 am

The movers are packing up my house today, and we are driving back to the west coast (from Missouri) so I can ship my Jeep to Hawaii. Yesterday I noticed a chirp/squeak noise coming from the engine, and this morning it was louder.

I am worried it is the Alt Pulley, but I can't narrow down exactly where the sound is at. I am guessing pulley because the belt has only maybe 20k on it max and the noise is closer to a chirp-squeak not what a loose belt sounds like.

I have access to the shop on post so I can try to fix whatever is wrong before my 3K mile road trip, but I don't know if I will be able to narrow it down that fast, so does anyone have any suggestion on how I can determine where the sound if coming from? A stethoscope or the screwdriver trick?

cgass · **Posted:** Fri Aug 17, 2012 2:45 pm

I've used the screwdriver trick with good results before.

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arengant · **Posted:** Fri Aug 17, 2012 4:45 pm

Thanks!

Well I gave it a whirl. With the longest screwdriver I had I listened to the WP and ALT pulleys. There was no amplifeid squeak so they might be fine. The tensioner pulley looks like it is wobbly so that will be the next thing I am going to check.

arengant · **Posted:** Fri Aug 17, 2012 11:02 pm

Well doing a more extensive search on here made me think it was still the alt. decoupler. I had the movers leave my tools out until Monday so I was able to dive into it more. I took off the serpentine belt and sure enough the alternator pulley wobbled when I spun it.

So back to my original question: the best way to see if a bearing on a pulley is bad is to spin it by hand.

Luckily I made it to Autozone ten minutes before they closed and ordered a lifetime warranty alternator for 145 bucks. I also did the fan shroud mod so it wasn't a complete waste

thomas04 · **Joined:** Sun Feb 28, 2010 1:57 pm **Posts:** 129

When this occurred to me around the 60k kilometers mark, I had 2 belts and one pulley replaced before they changed out the timing belt and that solved the sound. Not much help but hopefully something you can find a solution with.

Peace,

Thomas

DOC4444 · **Posted:** Sat Aug 18, 2012 6:13 am

You could have more than a decoupler issue, but the dx for that is easy. If you have red dust all around the front of the alternator, it's time.

DOC

arengant · **Posted:** Sat Aug 18, 2012 8:34 am

No noticeable red dust so I am hoping that I just caught it early enough. I put off timing belt until after I get to Hawaii so I hope that decision doesn't end up bad.

Thanks all for the input!

DOC4444 · **Posted:** Sat Aug 18, 2012 10:03 am

If there is no red dust, your problem is probably elsewhere than the alternator decoupler.

DOC

arengant · **Posted:** Sat Aug 18, 2012 11:42 am

When I take it back apart to replace the alternator I will check the other accessory pulleys for sloppy rotation and keep an eye on the tensioner. I was hoping no read dust because I caught it early enough.... I will repost the youtube video from another member the is very similar to mine.

DOC4444 · **Posted:** Sat Aug 18, 2012 11:51 am

My experience is that there is usually a fair amount of dust before you start actually hearing a rattle from the decoupler.

DOC

arengant · **Posted:** Wed Aug 22, 2012 5:29 pm

Well, got the new (re manufactured in Mexico) autozone alternator installed today. the chirp noise is gone so I hope that's the only thing wrong. 145 bucks and an hour of my time installing and now I am ready for my road trip!

How to determine bad pulley?

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