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Old 09-02-2005, 12:34 PM   #1
Donnie Terrell
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Shrieking noise,alternator or water pump?

I have a 1990 mazda protege. It is making a loud,shrieking, grinding noise near the belts and pulleys. First I thought it could be the idler pulley on the AC belt so I removed the belt but still heard the noise. I have an aftermarket service manual which says if you hear similiar noises coming from the alternator you have a bad bushing, I guess they mean bearing. The book also says that a bad water pump could make such noises. The same belt runs both the water pump and alternator so how can I tell which it is after removing the belt? I could change the noise by changing the RPM's. Before the engine warmed up it mostly done it at low RPM's and the noise could be eliminated by giving it gas but after the engine was warm it made this noise constantly and I could see smoke coming from the general area when the noise was at it's worst. I think I would rather it be the alternator. Can anyone please help me? Thanks!!!!
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Old 09-02-2005, 03:46 PM   #2
jrdwyer
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Re: Shrieking noise,alternator or water pump?

First make sure it's not the belt slipping. Slipping belts commonly cause a whining or shreiking noise at startup and go away after a few minutes when the belt stretches. If the belt is worn or frayed, then replace it. If it is just loose, tighten it to the specs in the manual. In my opinion, Gates makes the best belts.

If the alternator is going bad, it should trigger the dummy light on the dash. If the water pump is going bad, it will generally start to leak antifreeze at the pump. Check your overflow tank and radiator for proper coolant levels if it has been leaking.
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Old 09-03-2005, 03:04 PM   #3
Donnie Terrell
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Re: Shrieking noise,alternator or water pump?

The belts are new. The sound is real bad, and smoke? I removed the second belt which runs the water pump and alternator, cranked it briefly, no noise of course. The water pump doesn't spin freely like I think it should, there seems to be no play in either the alt. or pump. It looks like it would be a bear to change the water pump or alt, because they are flat up against the fire wall. I couldn't even get a wrench on the bottom alt. bolt, I was lucky in that it was loose enough for me to move it. Looks like you may have to lift the engine up. Oh yey, the dash light for the alt. did come on when the belt was removed but not when the belt was on. I suspect the water pump. I will probably take it to a shop. I am a printer, not a mechanic but I try to work on my on toys when I can. I have a 85 Jeep Wagon,boat 88,ford splash 94 and an exedition 2001. We need to park the Expedition and drive the mazda some because of gas prices here. Sorry for the long shpill, but any input would be greatly apreciated, Thanks!!!! jrdwyer
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Old 03-08-2010, 09:14 PM   #4
rainmaninwa
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Re: Shrieking noise,alternator or water pump?

O.K. Guys, here's what I found out:

My daughter brought her 98 Protoge LX over because her A/C compressor had "blown up" internally, locked and fried the belt. (this belt runs the A/C and power steering). I had her bring it over and installed a new belt and told her not to turn on the A/C until I had a chance to locate a new compressor and get it installed. I ran one down on E-Bay and had her come over and I installed it. After all the hoo-ha of swapping the compressor and re-charging the A/C system and getting it all working, low and behold the belts still occasionally squeak or "rumble" intermittently. The only way I could get the darn things to quiet down was to tighten the belts WAY TOO TIGHT!!!! Then there was less squealing, but more squeaking and "rumbling" even when there was no load on the belt. Upon messing around with it for awile, we found that the alternator belt (drives the W/pump also) was also squeaking intermittently when the A/C was on or the headlights were on due to the additional electrical load on the alternator. Once again, the only way to eliminate the majority of the squealing was to over-tighten the belt to what seemed to me to be near the point of breakage.

After all this, the belts still squeak and rumble, sometimes even when not under load. ?????

In desperation, I removed BOTH belts from the engine and took them up to the bench to check, I found no apparent defects, cracks or problems, which was logical because they were both essentially new. I went back to the car and was leaning over the fender contemplating all this when by accident I happened to shine my trouble light directly on the bare pulley on the w/pump. Low and behold, in the bottom of the V-grooves in the pulley itself, some sort of debris (melted rubber/dirt ??? ) was packed into the bottom of the grooves. I got one of my pointed probes and started scraping the crap out of the grooves. It was amazing how much junk I could get out of the V-grooves. Since that particualr pulley was for the water pump, for ease of cleaning, I removed it from the water pump. Back at the bench, I spent the better part of 15 minutes scraping the crap out of the pulley grooves. Once done, I went to the grinder and used the wire brush to completely clean out the grooves.

Returning to the car, I checked the double pulleys down on the crankshaft and found the same condition (only worse). This time rather than removing the pulley from the crank, I simply started the engine, and while idling, I CAREFULLY inserted my "hook" probe into the pulley grooves while spinning. The crap simply flew out of the grooves. Upon looking at what fell on the floor, it looks like pieces of a black rubber band, and and small chunks of rubber mixed with dirt.

It was harder to clean out the grooves on the alternator pulley but I did the best I could with the alternator still on the car, I think I got nearly all of the crap out of the grooves.

Low and behold, after putting it all back on the car and starting it up. NO SQUEAKS. This is even with both belts tightened WAY loose. (even with the A/C AND headlight on).

So, you might want to check this out. It sounds like you may be tightening the belts so much in an attempt to get them to quit squeaking that they are breaking prematurely. It's what I had been doing to try to stop the noise.

I've been working with cars for over 50 years. I was a line mechanic in the Cadillac garage and am restoring two cars presently, but I gotta admit, this was new to me... I have fought with serpentine belts on all my cars. None of which seem to work correctly. Even when I replace belts and tensioners, they still chatter and squeak. I am going to check them for this problem, which I think it may be the root of all this heartburn.

I would tell you that this condition is HARD TO SEE, On my daughter's car, the pully V-grooves ARE NOT rounded in the bottom of the groove. The "V" groove should have a "sharp" bottom. If the grooves are not COMPLETELY clear, then the belt will ride over the debris in the bottom of the groove and not grip the grooves properly.

So get in there and check them closely, sorry, it's not easy to get the junk out of the grooves either. It is darn near hard as a rock.

Do all this, install new belts and tighten them reasonably, and I think you might find a fix for your problem.. I did.

We were all better off with good ol' V-Belts....
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Old 08-02-2017, 08:18 AM   #5
mandarin79
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Re: Shrieking noise,alternator or water pump?

Hi Donnie,

Did you fix the problem and find the bad component? I have a same problem with my car... I couldn't decide what is the noisy component, water pump or alternator.
Thanks!
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