Chirping from Belt Tension Help!

[Scott Foster]

Hi ALL, I'm a newbie down here in Texas, I'm looking from some help trying to find out were this chirping is coming from? It sounds like it from the top pulley but I'm not sure. If I spray some WD40 it temporary goes away but I'm just not sure if that's the issue. Are there known issues with the pulleys? My truck is a F250 7.3 2002 (189,000 miles) - Thanks for any input! Scott

[fordpwrstroke7]

Are you sure it's just not in need of a new belt?

[tubular031]

Mine does this too when I first start it up in the morning but goes away after a little while. I am looking for the parts now to replace the WP, belt, pullies, and rad hoses. I figure its better to replace them now when I want to rather then be stuck on the side of the road somewhere!

Are you still running the stock water pump at 189k? if so, that thing is probably going to fail soon.

[mrnecsteve]

You probably need to replace the bearings on your idler pulley.When the bearings wear,the belt runs offtrack on the face of the idler pulley.

[Scott Foster]

I did replace the belt at about 5k and yes that's the original water pump, so I need to replace it -Thanks for that bit of info! Is the top pulley the "idler pulley" or are those the two down on the left side under the air conditioner compressor if your looking at the truck??

[tubular031]

The popular pump to go with is the northern auto parts pump
Water Pump

NCH know his stuff.

I contacted northern auto on ebay yesterday and they said this:
Hi, upper hose is $14.82, lower hose is $12.64, thermostat is $11.42, water
pump is $89.99, tensioner pully is $18.14, on your serp. belt I need to
know if single or dual alt. Thanks, Jessie

-northernautoparts

I forgot to tell them I had the single alt.. oops!

I figure I am going to replace it all since the parts are pretty cheap and Ill be in there anyway. again, I would rather do this when I want to and not when the truck wants me to! Nothing is worst then being a few hundred miles from home sitting on the side of the road waiting for AAA to come and tow you somewhere!

[NCHornet]

I am not a fan of replacing parts until they fail, but that is up to you, and yes the Northen pump is the one you want to use, it is made by Airtex, the same as OE. Another member researched this and found out Carquest sells the same pump for $120 but gives a life time warranty with it.
The belt tensioners are known to fail on these trucks, the easiest ways to track down a squeak for vibration is use a stick of wood, a hmmer handle can also work. Place it on different components and you will be able to feel it through the wood itself.
PM me with any ?

NCH