Belt squealing and not moving.
12-06-2010, 11:33 PM
#1
Junior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2009
Posts: 7
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Belt squealing and not moving.
94 F150 5.0 Automatic XLT. Okay, so the other night I'm driving home from work and all is well. I exit off the highway onto the road that leads to home and about 1/4 mile down the road I hear a noise under the hood and I lose my power steering and the alternator light comes on. I figure I've lost the belt. No problem as I've had a new one for awhile so I limp on home and once I'm there I pop the hood. The belt is still in place. Curious. So I go ahead and replace the belt anyways, start the truck up, and everything seems fine. I straighten it out in my driveway, because I pulled in cockeyed due to the lack of power steering, and go to bed thinking all is right with the world. Next morning, I'm ready to go to work, go out and hop in my truck, start her up, and she is making this god awful squealing sound. Pop the hood, and lo and behold, the belt is not even turning. Great. Remove the belt again, start up the truck, the engine starts fine and no noise. Put the belt back on, start it up and same thing. Truck starts fine, engine runs for a bit with no noise, and then the belt stops and it starts squealing. I'm assuming that this is because one of the components the belt is connected to is trying to turn but the belt is froze in place and won't let it. Ok, so I got it started, the belt is running and I'm taking a look under the hood and it looks as though it might be the a.c. compressor. That seems to be where the noise is coming from and what is stopping the belt. Today, I get a bypass pulley from the auto parts store and install it, route the belt (yes it's routed right, I have the diagram) and the truck starts up, belt is running and no noise. I go in to the house, all proud and announce to my beautiful wife that I've fixed the problem and am now going to take it out for a test drive. Go back outside, start the truck and SQUEAL and the belt is not moving. To say that I was slightly upset would be an understatement. So, I've got a stupid stupid question for anyone out there who can answer me, because for the life of me I can't remember. The tensioner pulley: should it turn also because mine is not. I freewheeled all the other pulleys but the tensioner is a no go. Also, I just took a look at a picture of one on my auto parts store website and it seems to have an actual plastic pulley wheel, where mine is just metal. Almost like if there was an actual plastic pulley wheel, it broke off (which may have been the noise I heard) but if that's the case, why the heck didn't it throw the belt or break the belt. Any info would be greatly appreciated. My sixteen year old daughter is getting pretty upset that I keep borrowing her car (which by the way is a lot newer than mine) to get to work. Thanks in advance.
