Where's that squeal???

Just picked up an '01 Taurus with 64K miles. It's in pretty good condition except for a squeal coming from the belt area that I had quickly diagnosed as a an idler pulley squeal. Well, after trying to hunt it down with the stethoscope I can't find it anywhere!! It sounds a lot like a belt squeal, but only occurs as the engine rises above 2000 RPM (this is also the point where I can begin to see the tensioner move with the belt momentum, but I can't isolate the noise to that area). The noise continues to rise with engine RPM and never goes away until I'm back below 2000. I tried spraying belt conditioner on the belt (brand new belt), but that hasn't helped. I've checked every pulley, except for the crank pulley coming off the engine, but I'd seriously doubt any noise would be coming from there. Any ideas?

64K is about time to replace the tensioner, mines an 03 and replaced it and the belt at 50K. Only thing I can suggest is take the belt off and see if there's any front to back play or wobble in the tensioner pulley and spin it and use the stethoscope and see if you detect any scraping noise. Maybe the water pump is going bad and the seals are dry making it squeal, but if the seals were bad you'd think it would be leaking . . . . I dun'no. Taurus water pump blades have a way of wearing down to nubs so they need replacing anyway. No definite mileage for that, some says overheating due to nubs and some say 150K miles on theirs and blades still good. I dun'no again . . .

Before the toothed serpentine belts the old V belts were bad about squealing and we put bar hand soap in the pulley groove and quitened it down.

EDIT - You don't need to take the belt off. Just loosen it so the idle pulley spins free and test for lateral movement and wobble. Another good rsource. If your friendly Ford dealer is in fact a friend, go to the svc dept and ask one of the mechanics if he ever knew a pulley to start squealing at 2000 RPM's. Might do the same with a couple independent shops in your town.

Yes, it does seem like the tensioner. I'm able to put a wrench on it and apply some more tension and the noise subsides. I can feel the thing vibrating quite a bit through the wrench. I'll change it and hopefully that nails it. It's strange, though. The belt is very tight statically (I can barely get a 1/16" deflection pressing on the belt with my hand), but the tensioner doesn't have enough damping while running. Very weird. Anyway, thanks for your help!

"I'm able to put a wrench on it and apply some more tension and the noise subsides." There you go, . . . OK Ma'am, glad you gave us the oppurtunity to assist and let us know if that solves it. Please don't be no stranger because we need good folks like you here. :cheers:

Just a follow up question. You wouldn't happen to have the torque spec for the mounting bolt on the tensioner, would you? The part I bought doesn't have it on the instruction sheet and the counter guy was just as useless. Thanks.

Torque spec: I have no idea but the Ford place should have it.

Just a follow up question. You wouldn't happen to have the torque spec for the mounting bolt on the tensioner, would you? The part I bought doesn't have it on the instruction sheet and the counter guy was just as useless. Thanks.

Which engine do you have? The torque spec for the drive belt tensioner bolts is 35 ft-lb for the 12V engine and 18 ft-lb for the 24V engine.

-Rod

Which engine do you have? The torque spec for the drive belt tensioner bolts is 35 ft-lb for the 12V engine and 18 ft-lb for the 24V engine.

-Rod
12V. Thanks!

Which engine do you have? The torque spec for the drive belt tensioner bolts is 35 ft-lb for the 12V engine and 18 ft-lb for the 24V engine.

-Rod
Would you also happen to have the torque spec for the idler pulley? I had to remove that to get at the tensioner. Thanks.

According to the service manual, the tensioner/idler is an assembly mounted by two bolts ("NOTE: The tensioner/idler assembly is serviced as an assembly only. Remove the bolts and the accessory drive belt tensioner."). The torque spec for each bolt is 35 ft-lb for the 12V engine.

-Rod