Lately i have been noticing that for the first few minutes after I start the car i hear a noise like from a bearing. Could this be from the belt tensioner? what are some things to check?

Noise is still there with ac off.the frquency also increases as you accelerate and even with the car on park it makes the noise. after a while it will go away but it has been getting worse and lasting longer than before. thanks for the help guys.

 

it could be any number of things, can you post a video to youtube of the sound and give us the link? another way would be to pull the belt off and spin each pulley by hand and see which one makes the noise

 

I will try to take a video this weekend since now I dont have much time now. But I took the pulley really quick by hand and spun each of the pulleys and it is difficult to say. They all make a little of noise almost like a bearing needing grease. The belt tensioner pulley did not feel very good at all though. It made noise but it also felt bad when I spun it. Could this be the most likely culprit it?

 

each pulley should spin freely with no noise, if you suspect the tensioner pulley then spray the bearing down with the belt off and then put the belt on and start the truck, if the noise goes away then you have a tensioner pulley that's bad. did you try to tilt the top of the pulley in and out in addition to just spinning it? their should be no play in the pulley from tilting the top in and out

 

I did not try to move the pullyey sideways but i will try that again. if i spray the bearing and the noise goes away then i should replace the bearing or with the oil i am all set?also, can i do the same procedure to the other pulleys without harming anything?thanks for the help

 

spraying lube on the bearings is just a temporary fix, if you dertimine which pulley it is ( tensioner or idler ) then you will have to replace the whole pulley, the bearing is part of the pulley. dont spray lube on the alternator though!

 

Well I took the belt off with more time now and it's definitely the alternator pulley. It squeaks when I spin it. My alternator works great and I never have any problems with the battery even though I have aftermarket stereo with a sub. It would suck to change this just because a squeak. Any ideas or should I just let it be until it gets real bad, then change it?