Grinding noise with the new serpentine belt

[Denisk]

I've searched a bit here and it may be I am on to a serious issue, please share if you know:
Just replaced the serpentine belt and what i hear is a suddle grinding noise that seems to coincide with one of the pulleys rotation speed. It vanishes almost if i hit the throttle, but then again, i am not certain as i dont have a stetoscope to hear it out precisely.

Do i understand right that if it is one of the pulleys' bearings going it could have bad consequences?

My story with the belt is also notorious: I have an 01SE without ACE (with 64K), so went to the stealership, asked for a replacement belt for same. Obviously, almost expectedly, was given the wrong belt! Well, local mumandpup shop "Economy Parts" had the right belt, they literally hand picked one for me, based on the old one i brought to them.

It was late after the sun went down when i got back to the truck, put the new belt for the first time in about 15 minutes, with a help of a good friend, we used those headband LED lights.

So getting back the grinding noise, should i wait and for how long to see if it vanishes by itself, or should i get a pipe and listen carefully to each pulley, what do you say people? Obviously the new belt seemed a little stiffer than the old, its the first time i replaced it, and it was good timing, pieces were missing off the old one.

 

[RRoverPaisa]

I just had that problem this week. Let me elaborate:

Got my '01 SE7 and as routine maintenance I decided to change all the needed things and some. Spark Plugs, wires, ignition module, head gasket, valley gasket(main culprit as the bolts were not torqued and were loose allowing coolant in through the valves), Valve seals, O-rings, injector rings, and of course the serpentine belt. I did not have belt at the time so I went to the local Pepboys and Kragen and they did not have the ACE version of this belt. I put the belt back on and drove to British Pacific in Valencia and got the belt and installed it that evening.

Then the noise started after installing. Changed the idler (changed from the 70mm plastic to the 80mm steel and that is what I was given from BP) by the tensioner. I heard the ACE pump making noise and it was very noise during turns and it got worst during the day so I found one at the local Land Rover dismantler for $140 and changed it curing most of the noise. During installation of the ACE the belt was not set correctly on the valance and the belt shredded slightly on the edge.

So the next morning before I headed to Las Vegas (last friday) I drove on my route to Las Vegas and stopped at Pasadena Land Rover Stealer and paid $67 for the same belt that I paid for at BP for $27. I also picked up the other idler just incase and headed for Vegas. Two exits after the stealership I heard a swooosh noise and my dashboard lit up like a X-mas tree. On the side of the road with my tools(which I always carry with any LR) I replaced the idler and serpentine belt. My Disco started and drove to Las Vegas and back 520miles round trip no problem.

Drove the Monday, Tuesday to work and back no problem. Yesterday during my lunch I was driving to a local spot when I heard the same swooosh noise and the light lit up again. I was like WTF and upon opening the hood I could not believe my eyes. The serpentine belt was into pieces. Called LR in Pasadena explained that I had a defective belt and they were very nice and asked me to bring the remaining pieces of the belt and the invoice and they were going to warranty the belt . Got a new one happily. Upon very close inspection I realized that the bracket/clamp under the idler by the tensioner was way too close to the 80mm idler which I think was the culprit shredding my belt. Simple fix rotated the clamp and installed the new one. Drove all day and no problem and very happy customer of LR in Pasadena. If they continue to be an helpful dealer I might consider purchasing my LR in 2020. LOL.

In all I think you should just changed your two idlers and if possible just change your tensioner while you are at it they are bound to give anyways. I have found that if you change certain parts before they give out completely you get piece of mind knowing that you have a new part installed and secondly you can carry your old goodie as spare to get you home.

You can always apply a bit of WD-40 and if the noise goes away then you have located the bad part. Keep an eye on your alternator. Good luck.

 

[brianhoberg]

I changed my two idler pulleys and serpentne as part of the 60k service on my truck. I didn't change the tensioner pulley as it is still in good shape. The bearings will go out eventually and you will be left with some ugly melted metal where the pulley was. It can be bad depending on where you are and how long the serp belt doesn't cool the engine. Could be anything from your belt snapping from the temperature of the friction on the seized pulley, to your engine block overheating and cracking due to not being cooled properly. Again, just depends on when and how long.
After I changed mine out, on cold starts I will get a chirping coming from the power steering pump pulley, but it goes away after the engine warms up and isn't apparent when driving.
-Brian.

 

[RoverInTheRockies]

I have had simmilar experiences with my Rover... While I was on a pass the tennsioner pully locked up and broke the belt. Got the Rover to my grandparents place in Leadville, CO found that the local Carquest people had never even seen under the hood of a Rover so I had to take what I had left of my pully and find something lhat looked like it would work or be stranded waiting for 6 days when they ould get the part in... also bought a belt that fit tight but it got me back home (150 miles roughly) that belt and pully lasted me 9 months. I had forgotten about the fix that I had done cause some other stuff came up that took presidence.

Well about 2 months ago I was heading up to meetup with a few guys to go wheel Red Eliphant and on the highway to the meeting point that same sound as discribed in the posts above happened dash lit up and Rover stalled... I popped the hood and to my surprise my belt was gone, the pully had sheared off and left only the bearing race and the bolt that held it on, my fan was missing everything but where it mounts, and there was a 1 1/2inch hole through my radiator...

I had heard the "grinding" sound off and on wth the factory pully and with the makeshift one and in the end it ended up costing me something along the lines of $1500.00 with towing, and all of the parts that I needed to replace.

Moral of the story: replace it and do it with genuine parts before it costs you that much.

Chris

 

[Denisk]

Thanks for all the good wisdom here. I guess i need to listen in to see which of the pulleys is producing this scratching noise, which is very suddle. Or, do i need to replace the pulleys preemptively? If so, which ones?