relicshunter

I have a 93 f150 5.0 that has had a on and off chirping noise since the motor was changed out for a Jasper rebuilt a year ago. First after the change they could not get the belt to stay on the pulleys and after trying a slightly bigger idler pulley and a wider tensioner pulley they managed to keep it mostly on the pulley. It has never been right yet, it's like the crank pulley is pushing the belt forward to much. I have to replace the belt every few months because of uneven wear and slipping.
I had the air pump bypassed long before the motor was swapped, and recently bought a dummy pulley to try to improve the line up of the belt. It helped a little but not a complete solution. So for months and months they have never gotten it completely solved and this time when the noise come back it was more of a metal chirp, they changed the tensioner , didn't do it. I am so sick of this problem since the motor swap. My stethoscope put it as the water pump area or the crank area. It got louder and they felt this time it was the water pump. Well it started chirping again on the way home from the water pump change. Right now it is fairly soft noise and comes and goes a lot. I can't easily get them to hear it until it cranks up in sound again like before the water pump change. Is there a possibility that the time chain sprocket is making this noise and whatever is wrong in there prematurely wore on the water pump? causing it to make noise also? And then there's the belt line up problem that has never been completely solved. I am so sick of chasing the problem, any clues?

sdmartin65

I'd start by removing the crank pulley and making sure the balancer is fully seated or that washers weren't placed between pulley and balancer. If that doesn't fix it remove ac/ps bracket check for washer or?, then move over to alternator/air pump/tension/idler do the same thing. It's a bit of work but with the solid accessory brackets belt alignment should never be an issue. I tried the air pump delete pulley but got noise. The part was just the slightest bit loose on the retaining bolt fit and would shift slightly.

relicshunter

They replaced the balancer when they first started to try and cure this, even thou the balancer was just 5 months old( it was scoring the seal), No change. i changed the idler thinking I saw plastic dust like the bearings were going, no change. The noise was the same with or without the delete pulley for the air pump.

sdmartin65

I was thinking the belt destruction and noise were related but maybe then maybe not. I installed a rebuilt 302 couple years back and had a leak at the front seal. The engine had been bored and crank was probably surfaced, not sure on the crank. I replaced the front seal and it still leaked. I ended up removing the timing cover and removing the alignment dowels, bought an alignment tool off eBay that slips over the crank snout. You then slip the timing cover over the alignment tool and tighten it down. This fixed the leak. For whatever reason the crank sat lower/higher than oem. It must be a common enough of a problem that there is a tool made to fix it. I'd bet this is the source of your noise. You'd hate for the crank pulley not sitting perpendicular to the engine to be the cause of your belt problems. Not sure if that's possible or how it could be fixed if it were a problem.

Steve83

Post good, clear, focused pics of the HB & its pulley.Why?Sure, but it's not likely. The timing chain is bathed in oil.No, the chain doesn't touch the WP. There's an air gap between the WP rear plate and the front of the timing cover.Sight along each accessory pulley toward the others. It will probably help to remove the shroud, fan, & belt. But it's usually pretty easy to see which one is out-of-plane with the others, or not parallel. You can also spin them with the belt off to check for wobble or noise.

relicshunter

Interesting problem, I agree if they make a tool to fix it then it must be something that happens fairly often. The leak I had was from a rough area on the balancer that was ruining the seal. New balancer fixed it but the other would have been cheaper.

relicshunter

I no longer have belt wear, since it is not slipping any longer since adding the by pass pulley. Having that pulley with the groves helps keep the belt almost riding right. The belt rides forward on the water pump pulley now but the rest is holding ok.
I will try to get pictures this weekend, and try to check the planeness of all the pulleys. None of the pulleys wobble or make noise when the belt is off( I had suspected the idler but it was not it)
I still suspect the water pump area, that's where the noise is coming from. First few days after the pump change the noise was faint, now it's back to noise is quite noticeable most of the time it's running. The sprocket the pump runs on?
I don't know, and the garage just keeps trying things with no real plan.
I by passed the smog pump because two pumps killed in 4 years on dry dusty roads of Fl, with no change in MPG for the truck so why would I leave it?

Steve83

So you're going to ignore it until it fails again?There is no sprocket.Because it's required by law, and keeping the truck running as-designed is the best way to make it last with the fewest repairs.

relicshunter

I have no idea what you are talking about " ignoring it until it fails again" The motor is under warranty, they can't seem to figure it out! They keep changing out pulleys with no improvement. It's going to the shop weekly and each time they somehow get it to stop for about one trip home.
The belt is better then it was because of the pulley I put on. But it's not a belt squeal anyway.
There are no spacers under any pulley, the balancer has been checked, double checked, and replaced. It sits where it is meant to sit.
My state does not require the smog pump and it was a poor attempt in the early days. There is no change with or without it. I am not one of those rednecks that tear out all the vacuum hoses but this idea was not the best one. Your state requires it Ok fine let drop that part.
I was hoping for someone with a similar problem. The noise is from the water pump area, ok there's no sprocket, the timing chain runs on a wheel that turns could the noise be coming from inside more? Could it be bearings in the motor more? Do you have any suggestions? Does anyone have any suggestions?

Steve83

OK The way you worded it before made me think you had given up on fixing that.Yes, all states require you to obey federal law.It was the best attempt they could come up with in the early days, but your truck isn't "early". The system is properly-engineered, and works well when properly maintained with good parts. If you bought a cheap pump that didn't last, that doesn't make the design "poor". I use junkyard pumps because they last.As I said initially: it's not likely. And that's why I didn't realize you had returned to the timing chain, which DOES run on sprockets. But the timing chain doesn't run any pump directly by those sprockets. It only turns the camshaft, which turns the distributor, which turns the oil pump.Again: not likely because they're bathed in oil. When they wear out, there's knocking that gets progressively worse as the engine runs progressively worse. It never subsides & reappears - it only gets worse.