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Drive belt, pulleys or tensioner?

swaffi

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Hey there, I own a vt commodore 98 model with A/C . It started making a whistling noise and then a tinny noise and that's when I thought well, I'd better have a fair dinkum look at this!:hmmm: It's definitely coming from either the drive belt, pulleys or tensioner. I've read a few posts on this forum concerning this or a similar problem now what I must ask is....is the tensioner supposed to move at all? because mine moves a little and so does the belt on the pulley? Every other pulley seems to be quite stable. Does this sound like an obvious problem? :help: and how urgent should I get this looked at?
Regards..Grant
 

Cheyne92

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Spray a tiny bit of silicon spray on the face of the belt, if it stops making the noise then you know it's belt related. If not then it would be pulley related
 

Chard

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Take the belt off and start the vehicle,, if the noise goes you know it is the belt and/or something related.... Then spin the pulleys,, you should be able to create the noise.
I guess an idler pulley or the tensioner pulley might even be the water pump.
 

Gorilla62

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An easy fix, how old are the pulleys, the tensioner and the belt. All are very imnexpensive so why not just replace with new units, the engine will thank you.
 

Not_An_Abba_Fan

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Could be a couple of things, the power steering pump wears and will make a whining noise that is louder when you turn the steering wheel a bit. The tensioner can make a noise, but it is more of a tick, and you will see it bounce irregularly at idle. Most common are the idler and tensioner pulley bearings that start making noise. It could also be the water pump or alternator.

Take the belt off and spin the pulleys by hand, you will hear/feel the noisy one if it is one of the idlers. The water pump will be quite noticeable if it's that, as will the alternator.

Sometimes it's just the belt.
 

swaffi

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Thanks Chard, I'll try that first and let you know the outcome
 

swaffi

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Thanks Cheyne, will let you know how it went
 

swaffi

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Thanks for all your kind answers. I'll try the spray first and I'll see what happens after that
 

swaffi

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Sorry about the late reply on the outcome of my grinding/whisting problem belt/pulley/tensioner vt commodore saga but it ended up being the top idler pulley that was giving me all the grief. I could have sworn the noise was coming from the bottom one but as soon as I got my mechanic to have a quick feel, he knew straight away which one it was. :lock:
It cost me $30 from Repco for a new idler pulley. The belt ended up being a snack to take off and put back on after learning that the tensioner pulley bolt loosened off clockwise instead of anti-clockwise.:hmmm:
No noise at all has been detected in that area since which is great:yahoo:
 
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