1999 Ford Ranger Problem with belt noise.

L0VETRUMPET

MEMBER
1999 FORD RANGER
6 CYL
2WD
AUTOMATIC
102,000 MILES

I just bought a 99 Ranger and it runs great and everything only after a month of owning it I got a real bad squeal when I crank it one day. It's the belt or a bearing in one of the pulleys? So I replaced the Idler pulley. Didn't help. Then replaced the tensioner pulley. And put on a brand new belt.

I even cleaned up all the pulleys with brake cleaner to remove any grease build up. I then tried Belt Dressing on the grove side to see if it helped, which it did but only for a a bit and only during idle speeds. So I assume it's indeed the belt and not and bearings making the noise.

I assume the tensioner is the only adjustment source for the belt, and it feels tight to me when releasing the tension to put on the belt, but I don't have experience with exactly how tight it should feel.

Do I need to replace the tensioner?

2 Replies

98RANGERXLT

MECHANIC
301 POSTS

Your belt is automatic tensioning. Try this trick pull off belt spin each pulley by hand and see which one (if any) squeal.

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Sunday, March 22nd, 2009 AT 10:15 PM

L0VETRUMPET

MEMBER
2 POSTS

I tried spinning em all and none seem to be hard to rotate or make any noise. I did replace the idler and tensioner pulleys already. I have tried belt dressing and it does quiet up at idle speeds but going up the road it's back to screaming. Since the dressing silenced the noice at least temporarly I believve that means the belt itself is slipping and causing the squeal.

So this mean I need a new tensioner altogether? I felt the tension on the tensioner as I pulled it back to put on the new belt and it feels tight to me but i'm no expert on that. So can you feel with your hand if the tensioner is bad or is it something you can't tell by hand?