jemcgowen

I could use some assistance determining which pulley is squealing. I believe these are Renntech pulleys.

Help is appreciated.

http://youtu.be/R6wnXVDLLzI

Ken311

check idler pulley first, if that's not a problem change the bearing in the supercharger pulley.

jemcgowen

Thanks Ken. I'll check both of them. I thought the noise was louder near the top, but my ears deceive me regularly. I assume by "checking" you mean to free spin them? Are they stock pulleys?

jemcgowen

I was able to spin 5 pulleys - s/c, water pump, tensioner, & both idlers. They all spun pretty freely, although the s/c had the most "resistance" to it and only did maybe 10 revolutions. I assume it's because of the clutch?

Viper98912

buy a cheap automotive stethoscope and use it to touch on all the pullies (touch off on the stationary bolts or bracket, not the actual spinning pulley itself) while the engine is running. the one that's bad will sound with a distinctive whirring sound. another cheap method to do this is a long screwdriver and put it up to your ear canal.

jemcgowen

Viper, thanks for the tip. I tried it on both idlers and the tensioner. The other 6 didn't have stationary points.

Unfortunately my ears couldn't detect much of a difference. Could you point me to a sound clip of a bad pulley for a reference point?

Ken311

it sounds like its going to be the supercharger pulley bearing. the clutch is engaged when the engine is at idle (the supercharger is not operating).

unplug the wire going to the supercharger clutch so it will not disengage. start the car and rev the engine. have someone stand by the front of the car if the pulley squeal gets louder than I am wrong and it is not the S/C pulley. if the squeal sounds the same while revving, that is the culprit.

you should do this so you can hopefully solve the problem or at least eliminate one of the possibilities. good luck

-Ken

jemcgowen

I had a couple people listen to it and they think it's the s/c. A few observations:

1) The squealing seemed to go away as I revved the engine.

2) The bigger black part of the s/c pulley (which I assume is the clutch) spun whether it was plugged up or not. I unplugged the connector that was behind the top idler pulley and has two wires. Was that the right one?

3) All pulleys are 8 rib which I assume are aftermarket. I searched advanceautoparts.com for pulleys but didn't find any.

4) The tensioner pulley seems slightly mis-aligned compared to the other 8 pulleys - maybe 1/8". Does it need a shim or washer?

Ken311

1.) That makes me pretty certain the issue is not the S/C pulley. You should be safe to rule that out.

2.) I don't recall what the plug to the clutch looks like but it should throw a CEL when you disconnect it. The S/C pulley will spin normally.

3.) Which pulleys are you referring to exactly?

4.) The tensioner could be worn out and may be the problem. I don't recall if they are expensive to replace but it would be worth a shot.

Since you've ruled the S/C pulley out my guess is that the noise is from the idler pulley or the tensioner. How many miles are on the car and have you ever had any of the major pulleys replaced?

-Ken

jemcgowen

Thanks for getting back to me Ken.

I was referring to all pulleys. The belt is 8 rib, so every pulley that has ribs has 8 of them. I just assumed the car came from the factory w/ 6 ribs but I could be wrong.

The car has 126K and I've had it 1.5 years. Unfortunately I do not know the prior service history. I'm willing to purchase a few pulleys and try them out as long as I can return the unneeded ones w/ no hassle. Who is a good vendor for that?

Just had a thought. If the car was 6 rib stock and the previous owner converted it to 8 rib, that would explain why the tensioner pulley is "misaligned". It may actually be too small. I need to check it again at lunch to see if my hunch is correct.

macbryanie

Might be just easier to buy this http://www.needswings.com/Pulley-Sav...pskc32185.aspx and have a better kit and a new gates belt.

jemcgowen

I took another look at my car at lunch and some photos as well. I definitely have at least 2 Renntech pulleys - the crank & the water pump. The Renntech had a part number like "01 112 200" or something similar. I called them to find out if they ever made a 200mm kit but haven't heard back yet.

I also determined the tensioner pulley wasn't smaller; it was indeed misaligned. I now think that it is the culprit of the noise. I need to find a replacement one. I'm assuming it's stock -- I could find no markings on it.

Mac, that Needswings kit appears to just relocate one of the idler pulleys.

Ken311

I doubt it is a 200mm pulley, probably just the part number. Did you know you had a Renntech pulley? If not that must have been a pleasant surprise!

Glad to hear the tensioner is the issue. Not surprised it went bad with the # of miles you have racked up. An OEM replacement should serve you well and I do not remember them being very expensive.

Good luck.

-Ken

Edit >> you can post a picture of the tensioner to verify it is a stock unit.

macbryanie

Yep, it replaces with a larger one and repositions it. I thought it easier to do so and replace the belt and other pulleys aswell.
But if you are replacing the idler hope the following helps:
From the master : "Splinter"
"Stethoscope observation revealed that the upper idler pulley (#6) was past due for renewal.
Sourced a suitable OEM replacement (#120 200 04 70) for less than $30.
Reused its existing bolt torqued to 20Nm with a dollop of #242 Loctite.

Of course that pulley and its mounting bracket must be removed in order to facilitate belt replacement.
Owing to an irrepressible ‘while you’re in there’ mindset, swapped in a fresh belt concurrently.
Surprisingly little wear after 50,000+ miles, although there was irrefutable evidence of the belt having lost a good fight against the supercharger’s drive pulley under the front cover.

tech notes:
My dampened 178mm evosport crank pulley was supplied with a different diameter idler pulley.
Gates’ 2910mm belt (vs. 2902mm OE) worked perfectly in this instance.
The tensioning pulley (#9) still has ~1/2” of additional travel before ultimately reaching its limit.
New setup runs almost as tight as a snare drum. ymmv "

jemcgowen

Here is the tensioner pulley:

jemcgowen

Who are good vendors for our stock car parts?

I found this note on Pelican Parts:

"Some cars came with mechanical water pump/alternator belt tensioner assemblies while others came with a hydraulic type. Note that the mechanical style is only available as an assembly - the bearing or pulley is not available separately. Therefore, it is important to identify which style is on your vehicle BEFORE placing your order."

Which do I have?

macbryanie

Arh, sorry: my bad, tensioner not idler.

jemcgowen

No problem Mac. I *think* it's the tensioner and not an idler pulley, but I could be wrong.

Ken311

From the pic it definitely is the stock unit. I looked under my hood and it looks the same.

I like autohausaz.com for oem parts. I've used them in the past and have been pretty happy. And I am almost certain we have a mechanical tensioner, not hydraulic.

PelicanParts.com

Call or e-mail "Kenny" with the year and VIN# plus what parts you need.
He should be able to decode the VIN# for the correct parts.

SALES SUPPORT
kenny@pelicanparts.com
Mon-Fri 7:00a-5:00p Pacific time "California"
1-888-333-4642 x 314
United States - Canada 1-888-280-7799
International 1-310-626-8765

roy@pelicanparts.com

.

jemcgowen

Unfortunately I was wrong about the tensioner. I swapped on another one bought from a forum member, and the squealing went away for a couple of days. However, it is now back. I don't know which one is the cause, and I don't want to swap 8 pulleys trying to track it down. Suggestions?

Ken311

two thoughts here. one, was the tensioner you bought used? do you know how many miles were on it? you might want to try a new one.

two, your problem may be the supercharger clutch. i am not familiar with a way to check its functionality but we haven't ruled that out yet.

& another idea, since the S/C bearing is very cheap and easy to replace you might want to get a new one in there and see if it helps

jemcgowen

It was used. The seller told me it had 90k miles -- which is 36k less than my 1st one. I felt like that was a significant enough difference to warrant trying it out.

I may try replacing the s/c bearing and the idler pulleys. If that doesn't fix it...