Just a thanks again to the Kirby book. Have had bad belt squeal for a while. Reading the book said that the ridges in the alternator pulley were to high. Rather than pulling the whole alternator out and as I could not remove the pulley nut, I removed the belt from the pulley and used a dremmel hand grinder to grind the points down on the pulley. Replacing the belt and all good. In fact, I can now see shiny spots on the groove walls rather than only shiny on the peaks. No belt noise either. So it can be done in situ and the circularity of the ridges is not required. Thanks for this tip.

 

definitely a good tip in case someone can't figure out why their belts squeaks. On the other hand, if something is stuck, do your best to remove it...leaving it will only make it "more stuck" which will suck should you need to remove it in the future. Sometimes it's good to just unstick things and lube them to prevent broken bolts and knuckles in the future

 

Bought a new belt, tightened it up plenty, still when cold,it would squeel, still does. Noticed the ammeter low when squeeling and rising up closer to normal when it stopped. So I deduced that the alternator is providing an unusually high degree of drag upon startup because it's charging the battery because of the start. When it's charged enough the squeeling stops. Tightened the belt twice so at this point I'll live with the 30 seconds of squeel. Bud

 

[QUOTE=buddyluv;759374]Bought a new belt, tightened it up plenty, still when cold,it would squeel, still does. Noticed the ammeter low when squeeling and rising up closer to normal when it stopped. So I deduced that the alternator is providing an unusually high degree of drag upon startup because it's charging the battery because of the start. When it's charged enough the squeeling stops. Tightened the belt twice so at this point I'll live with the 30 seconds of squeel. Bud

Bud,
Have had the same issue with my xj6 . At stop signs there is a bad squeal. I think I will break down and put a new alternator on it this week. Hate to spend the money but it's kind of embarrassing. I know it's just going to go some day when I don't have time to deal with it. Great little icon you have but I never was good at kicking anything so I need one with a greasy wrench.lol.
All the best
Fmfz12007

 

[QUOTE=fmfz12007;1058683]Why dont you guys do what the op suggests? Rather than replacing the entire alternator. Seems like it counter-intuitive in relation to what this post is about.

 

Haha, he is right you know. Try the dremel first and if it doesn't work spend the extra money on the alternator if necessary.
OR if your alternator is fine, buy a new pulley and ask a tire shop to spin it off for you with an air gun. No sense in wasting a good alternator

 

Many thanks to all who posted here.
My idea was to chuck a socket into my driver and spin the alternator while using a file to shave a bit off the peaks of the pulley grooves.

I made a copy of Kerby's comments for reference.

 

Maybe I didn't mention but my 91 does not have a multi v grove belt. So I still need to find a cure. You guys with your fords might have a remedy but my V12 still squeels. Bud

 

Try a new belt. V belts get polished and this allows them to slip. Lightly sand the pulley sides with 800 grit too. Also, you can buy anti-beltsqueal sprays which are meant to sticky-up the belt a bit. Worth a try before the pain of removing all the belts to change the alt one!

Greg

 

Bud,

Are you sure its the belt, and not the damper rubber squealing.

The crank pulley rear V is the alternator drive (you know that), and it is the ONLY V that is rubber driven.

All the rest are bolted to the centre hub, and have nothing to do with the rubber driven V.