I was replacing the alternator belt on my Accord. Now I am getting this noise - seems to be from the pulley. I loosened the belt and the noise went away. Then I tried turning the air condition on, the noise came back. the alternator pulley seems to get real hot. Any suggestions will be really appreciated.

It almost seems if there is something getting stuck on the pulley. But the noise does go away at lower rpms.

Thanks in advance.

 

If its just a minor squeak in general then at any autozone or advanced autoparts you can buy this kind of lubricator that you directly put on. It gets the job done

 

The belt spray doesn't seem to help. Why would the pulley start heating up. That's the only pulley that heats. All other pulleys are fine. Seems like its starts to get caught up with some or other.

Any other ideas would be greatly appreciated.

 

Try using a long screwdriver as a stethoscope, put it CAREFULLY on the ALT behind the pulley and see if you hear the bearing Growling.
You can compare the noise at the P/S pump as it also has a bearing in the front.

 

i have the EXACT same problem...its driving me nuts...alternator went, popped in a bosch rebuild...seemed to run fine, belt tension was good...went to triple check it and burned the hell out of my hand on the pulley! quadruple checked the tension, was still good...checked everything else, good...thought it might be the bearing in the rebuild? too much friction = heat on the pulley? took back the refurb alternator and grabbed a brand new one...compared pulleys between the two and noticed the refurb pulley was 3/8" smaller than the new one...thought maybe the smaller size meant more rpm's therefore more heat produced? put in the new one, SAME THING....burning hot after 2 laps around the block...i'm stumped???? tension is good, wiring is good, battery is brand new, alt is brand new of course?? car was mint before the alternator went...possibly the belt, but why no heat issue before??

 

double post

 

Zman, souns like the pulley on your alternator has a bad bearing in it. the stethoscope trick is what I do to check for the noise. To fix this cheap you might want to look in yellow pages in your area to see if there is a reuild shop to replace the bearing part instead of paying for the entire alternator.