I have a 1989 GMC Sierra 1500 with a 350. My belt tensioner had a bad bearing and was replaced. A week or so later, I started to hear a rattling noise from the engine bay, mostly when in drive or reverse. The noise is coming from the belt tensioner. When I put force on the tensioner, the noise quit. Could this be a bad new tensioner or maybe a stretched belt? Pretty cheap item, so I can always replace it just to see.
Belt tensioner rattle
- Thread starter Rtlane
- Start date
Disclaimer: Links on this page pointing to Amazon, eBay and other sites may include affiliate code. If you click them and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission.
someotherguy
Truly Awesome
What brand tensioner did you install? I've seen the store-brand ones make a rattling noise, brand new, especially with the A/C on. Replaced them with a good used OEM unit and the problem went away.
Gates was the OEM and you can still buy 'em, about $35ish
Richard
Gates was the OEM and you can still buy 'em, about $35ish
Richard
Not sure of the brand. I was super busy at the time, so I took it to the shop and got some odds and ends replaced...belt tensioner, u-joint, control arm bushing, and few other things.
I'm glad you mentioned the AC because when I got it back from the shop, I repaired the AC on it. I put on a new condenser, accumulator, orifice tube, and converted it to R134a. Long story short, blows ice cold now. I'll see if it's worse when running AC now that it works. I might just have to take it back to the shop since they are the ones that replaced it and have them put another one on and cover the cost.
someotherguy
Truly Awesome
Go to Rockauto and look up the tensioner for your truck. Compare the appearance of the Gates piece to the Dayco. The Dayco style is the one I have seen trouble with noise on brand new units more than once. When the A/C kicks on I observed the tensioner oscillating wildly and sounding very much like a bad A/C compressor, but *carefully* holding the tensioner still using a pry bar made the noise stop. (Gotta be amazingly careful doing this as you could easily get seriously hurt, I'm sure this is obvious to most.)
Richard
Richard
HotWheelsBurban
Gotta have 4 doors..... Rawhide, TOTY 2023!
I've used Gates tensioner and idler on all 3 of my serpentine belt trucks. No problems, they last for several years. But then I prefer Gates belts and hoses too. And not just because we sold them in our auto parts store back in the day. Dad wouldn't have carried them if they weren't a quality product, or used them on all our vehicles.
