HELP !!!! Serpentine belt stress test (To my Sanity!)

[Mattee]

Hi Gang , please do not laugh too loud about my following easy to fix problem. I am TOTALLY stressing out over a simple replace serpentine belt problem…. If I had any hair left I would have pulled it out by now !! I’m hoping one of you has some words of wisdom to keep me from taking a long walk off of a short pier… And I actually have one near by!

2005 Ford Sport Trac 4x4, xlt, Automatic

Ok here is the game, had oil changed, within 10 minutes of leaving continuous squealing sound started to come from belt, never happened to me before? Belt looked good, so I figured it might be the idler arm pully might have gotten broken? So I ordered a new pully and serpentine belt since they wanted almost 400 dollars to replace it. Besides I am a half way decent mechanic. So replaced tensioner and belt…. Way to loose? The tensioner was bottomed out less then zero tension. All looked good, I looked at the bottom main engine pully a set of larger tracks closest to the motor and a smaller diameter option closer to the radiator. Visually the front set looks like it is the one to line up? Since that did not work I tried to put on the rear set…. It did tension, but looked weird! Turned engine over for 3 seconds… It jumped to the smaller pully where it probably should be? Here is what I did, visually matched old and new tensioner to verify same shape size and register pin location. Also stretched both old and new belts together to verify same length (Approximately 86.25 inches = 219 cm), New belt was a Motorcraft (JK6-873-EA 1x) for what that’s worth? My only uneducated guess is to buy a shorter belt? But how much shorter? Is 3 inches shorter a good guess? Again thanks for any help, I’m stressing to a point of not functioning in daily life from such a “simple” problem!

 

[user 78012]

From what I gathered… you noticed a squeal after an oil change. An oil change by whom? Did you check to make sure no oil was spilled on the belt? Or other liquid.

As for the new belt, and old belt matching length… it sounds like you need to confirm belt routing before you try a shorter belt. I would also inspect all pulleys for any excessive play or noises.

 

[Mattee]

Thanks did all that, cleaned old belt and installed new belt, still too much slop/play in belt. All pulleys are good. As mentioned previously the swing from the tensioner pulley has a range of about 20 to 30 degrees (Visual guess from looking at it). I have to torque the pulley about 5 degrees before it even gets a grip to start tensioning the pulley?

 

[swshawaii]

Compare belt routing with the decal under the hood on the top of the radiator or shown in owners manual.
With the belt installed, check if the center indicator is between both outer tensioner marks.

I believe the OEM tensioner is made by Gates.

 

[Mattee]

OK Attached here is my trial and error education about installing a serpentine belt,Too long to type here so please see PDF in your interested. It's mainly for people who have never done this before. Only lesson I still need to learn is... If the tensioner is stretched to 50% of its swing is that too much.... I'm thinking about 25% would be better?

 

[Mattee]

PS, Thanks to Todd Z for helping me understand about serpentine belt things so I could figure out how to do this, and what to expect.

 

[Mattee]

Update... Thought I could get by with the 1 inch smaller length one, but 1/2 way to work it popped off. So don't bother if it is one inch shorter. I'm going to see if I can limp by with the original size 87" size till next week. Ordered both an 85-1/2" and a 85-3/4" to see if I have better luck with them? I'll keep anyone who cares posted as this journey continues.

 

[user 78012]

I’m REALLY trying to understand the issue here…..
The original belt, that wasn’t squealing-then started squealing, the same size replacement doesn’t fit properly now. Was this before or after you swapped tensioners? Are the pulleys on the tensioners the same size?

This shouldn’t be this hard to figure out…
Either A) your routing is wrong or B) the replacement tensioner pulley is smaller

 

[DILLARD000]

These are the 3 different serp belts I've used on my 2001 V6~4.0L~SOHC;
the ACDelCo was noisy; now running several years with the Continental\GoodYear:
* 87i38=2m219Long FordMotorCraft#4L5z-8620-ea\jk6-873-ea
* 86i80=2m205Long ACDelCo#6k868
* 87i00=2m210Long Continental\GoodYear#4060870\6pk2210

May want to put a good eyeball on the CrankPulley\HarmonicBalancer; known to get out of balance; shouldn't be throwing new belts off; something is not proper.
Hope this helps.

 

[user 78012]

If the belt is popping off, something is out of alignment or a pulley has excessive bearing play(or an accessory)… orrr it’s option A from above.

 

[Mattee]

These are the 3 different serp belts I've used on my 2001 V6~4.0L~SOHC;
the ACDelCo was noisy; now running several years with the Continental\GoodYear:
* 87i38=2m219Long FordMotorCraft#4L5z-8620-ea\jk6-873-ea
* 86i80=2m205Long ACDelCo#6k868
* 87i00=2m210Long Continental\GoodYear#4060870\6pk2210

May want to put a good eyeball on the CrankPulley\HarmonicBalancer; known to get out of balance; shouldn't be throwing new belts off; something is not proper.
Hope this helps.

Thanks I'll add your info to the "Master" do it for dummies (Like Me) PDF I am making! Could you take a pic of the top of your idler arm pully so I can see how far it is swinging between 0 and max. Thanks!!! Maka