Hello,

I'm trying to diagnose a sound coming from the serpentine belt area. My stethoscope did not help.

My next move is to remove serpentine belt to eliminate the serpentine pulleys or belt as possible sources.

I've read other posts from many years ago in which the posters claim to have done this.

Has anybody tried this? I realize the battery should be topped up as the alternator will not work. I also don't plan on running the engine for more than a minute. Any other tips?

Thanks in advance.

 

No problem for that short period of time, water pump still operating, just no charging, ps or ac.

 

Especially just idling, no there's no harm in running without the serpentine belt for that short of a time. As mentioned just no charging, AC or PS so make sure your battery is fully topped off.

I once needed to drive my subie 5-10 minutes with neither of the alternator nor PS/AC belts, since my failing crank pulley shredded both of the belts, to the closest auto parts store to get new ones. No harm done.

 

Thanks, I'll report back.

 

my money is on tensioner.

 

Which one?

I'm hoping it's not the timing belt tensioner. I'd hate to do that job with high temperatures in the 30s. My garage is unheated. I'm hoping it is serpentine belt tensioner.

 

I don't like to be the bearer of bad news but my car also has very loud TB tensioner.. I'm hoping yours is the serpentine as well but... I need to replace my TB soon so that should fix the tensioner issue in one fell swoop.

 

I just did this a week ago on my 2012 Accord V6 trying to diagnose a whine that car has. Can see the thread here: https://acurazine.com/forums/3g-tl-p...nected-973236/

I haven't updated that thread yet as I'm waiting for my new tensioner pully (31180-RCA-A02) to arrive. I took off my serpentine belt and started the car and it didnt make the whine. spun the alternator wheel and smooth and silent and then went on to the tensioner and idler ...the idler was smooth and quiet while the tensioner made a metel-on-metal noise and spun weird and the finish was worn off it on half of the surface of the wheel and it wobbled around on the spindle axis at least 1/16". I took the belt off my '08 TL (which makes ZERO whine...completely silent) and spun the tensioner and idler and they both looked and acted the same with zero play like the idler on my Accord so I ordered the new tensioner and will see how that does.

I put my battery maintainer on the Accord before I started it to make sure the battery was totally full but even with all the electronics I'd be surprised if that much is used from the battery after just a minute of the car running, which was all I had my car running without the belt.

 

Thanks all, I'm pretty sure its my serpentine tensioner. I used my stethoscope again and my serpentine tensioner sounded very loud and rough, very different from the idler.

I took off the belt, turned on the car, and the noise went away. I turned off the car, then I manually moved each wheel. My tensioner does not feel very bad (no metal on metal noise - but then again the noise can only be heard with the hood open), but the tensioner does not slip as easily as the idler.

I ordered the tension pulley and will install this week-end.

 

I installed the new pulley today. The noise is gone. The hardest part of the job was putting the belt back on and remembering the threads on the pulley bolt are backward. 15 minutes including the time to pre-treat the bolt with Kroil last night.

I'm very glad it wasn't the timing belt tensioner. I feel like I got a reprieve so I will try and tackle that job this Spring. If it had been the timing belt tensioner, that job would have been miserable in the cold.

Thanks again to all.

 

For future reference, bearings in the pulley are off-the-shelf 6203 (2RS). prices range from $6 down to $1.50 each if bought in bulk. low force required to press out and back in, i managed with a bench vice. one point of caution, keep the stamped steel pulley wheel evenly and well supported to avoid bending/distorting it.

Story: I had the same issue with my '08 recently. sounded like the common PS pump cavitation issue, which I verified with bubbles in the fluid. noise was still present after a new o-ring. head-scratch. narrowed it down to the tensioner as well. awarded myself an extra adult beverage for having the foresight to keep a replacement bearing stocked in the parts cabinet. old out, new in and now you can't hear me coming two blocks away...

 

glad it wasn't the TB!