On my way down from Sedona last month I started to hear this loud whine when accelerating past 800 RPM all the way to around 3200 RPM. It seemed to go away once the vehicle was warmed up and at highway speeds. I removed the serpentine belt and noticed the tensioner pulley, idler pulley, and PS pulley all spun freely but I could hear some noise when spinning. I took the video below when the belt was on. When I took off the serpentine belt the noise goes away but a chirp remains when the engine idles cold. I have been looking over the forum for a bit now but can not find anything similar to this. May be the crankshaft pulley, maybe something worse?
Crankshaft Pulley? Something worse?
- Thread starter StriderLX
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Don't assume the worst.
What year is your truck?
You said you removed the belt and the pulley spun freely. They aren't supposed to just free wheel like a skateboard wheel and they shouldn't make any noise. You should feel a bit of resistance but with a nice smooth turning feel. If you gave it a good spin it shouldn't spin much.
Possibly your fan bracket is failing causing that wobble but its hard to tell from the video.
That whine was pretty strange I've never heard anything like that before. Kind of sounds like a super charger / turbo failing lol
Step 1 - Remove the belt again.
Step 2 - Start the engine and keep fingers crossed the noise goes away.
>> If it doesn't go away then it's timing belt or crank pulley related ( not likely ) since those things are still spinning without the belt
Step 3- If the noise did go away start inspecting each spinny thingy until you make sense of what is failing
The fan bracket is a bit harder to identify if its failing but a wiggle of the fan clutch with belt off might help.
Post a video of the idler and tensioner pulley that you said are spinning to see how bad / good they are
What year is your truck?
You said you removed the belt and the pulley spun freely. They aren't supposed to just free wheel like a skateboard wheel and they shouldn't make any noise. You should feel a bit of resistance but with a nice smooth turning feel. If you gave it a good spin it shouldn't spin much.
Possibly your fan bracket is failing causing that wobble but its hard to tell from the video.
That whine was pretty strange I've never heard anything like that before. Kind of sounds like a super charger / turbo failing lol
Step 1 - Remove the belt again.
Step 2 - Start the engine and keep fingers crossed the noise goes away.
>> If it doesn't go away then it's timing belt or crank pulley related ( not likely ) since those things are still spinning without the belt
Step 3- If the noise did go away start inspecting each spinny thingy until you make sense of what is failing
The fan bracket is a bit harder to identify if its failing but a wiggle of the fan clutch with belt off might help.
Post a video of the idler and tensioner pulley that you said are spinning to see how bad / good they are
Idler - free spinning and easy to replace , do it
Tensioner pulley - looks ok . How does the tension feel ? Should be a good amount of tension when you removed that belt . May be worth replacing if your diving in to this
Ac - looks fine
Engine running - sounds weird but audio in videos is never that great .
Start easy , replace that idler.
Tensioner pulley - looks ok . How does the tension feel ? Should be a good amount of tension when you removed that belt . May be worth replacing if your diving in to this
Ac - looks fine
Engine running - sounds weird but audio in videos is never that great .
Start easy , replace that idler.
Awesome , hopefully fan bracket is also OK ,that thing is hard to get at .
- Thread starter
- #9
Thanks, will start soon. The engine has some top-end work that needs to be done. Probably where the weird sound is coming from.
What do you have in mind for the top end? At least the noise went away with your belt off, that's a good sign that it's just one of the accessory pulleys
- Thread starter
- #11
Unrelated to this thread, i used to get only a puff of blue smoke on startup, now its several seconds to a minute of smoke. I am assuming valve seals are toast.
Dang.... anythings possible but I think that is pretty rare on these engines unless she overheated or has cooling issues. Have you seen any other forums of people with that issue ?
Sometimes there have been cases of power steering fluid (atf) sucking back into the intake and that will blow smoke. How's your power steering fluid level? It has two vacuum hoses running off the backside up to your intake , they should be dry.
2001LC
SILVER Star
Start with blue smoke and getting worst first:
If it smokes on start-up and gets worst the longer it's parked. i.e. 1 hour or over night. Very likely valve seals. Valve seals in 4.7L are very good ones. But must be properly maintained. 2 rules for proper maintenance:
1) Oil & filter change every 5K miles, but no more than 1 year. With synthetic oil & filter, you can go more miles.
2) Never use High Mileage oil (HM oil).
Your drive belt idler pulley bearing is bad. Free spinning and sound!
Your dr belt tensioner pulley bearing, seems okay. It slowed and I did not hear anything. So start with idler pulley and see results. If tensioner bearing bad, you've a few choices. 1: press in a new bearing. 2) Buy a tensioner assembly, and swap out the pulley. You can save the tensioner until in the area, such as time belt service which also when we like to replace fan bracket. This is provide you have good spring pull back from tensioner, otherwise 3) R&R tensioner assembly.
Your video "Fan Clutch" is a test of fan bracket, not the fan clutch. The free spinning with a slight sound, if it was a sound from bracket, which was hard to tell. Is not good! But I was unsure if I was hearing the bracket bearing. We a few test for fan bracket. One is only when removed during timing belt service. Which; is any oil seepage from seal in back, replace it.
You did one test, which is the spin while belt off. In this test you should not hear a sound. But we do get a little air movement sound from fan blade, which may obscure the test.
We also feel for any play, up and down. Any play and it's bad, and needs replace ASAP. Do not be confused with movement in fan clutch, as it will have play.
I've found the best test of a fan bracket bearing. Is with a $10 mechanics stethoscope. It is possible to reach the bracket housing just behind the pulley with tip of stethoscope probe, while belt on and engine running. If any chirp and/or sandy grind sound heard, it's bad.
Lack of sounds, with dr belt off, engine running, is good indicator of timing belt pulleys.
But if unsure of years and miles on timing belt/years since last done. Or if its tensioner & idler pulleys not replaced or not known with which manufactures pulleys. Consider doing the TB service. If you've Toyota or Lexus history, and it shows Dealerships did the service. Track down parts used. Very likely they did not replace the pulleys or fan bracket. Which they should have, but they don't 9 out of 10 T-belt services.
"Free spinning":
A new bearing will not free spin. It will barely spin 1 revolution, if that. Once a bearing broken in it will spin, but not just keep sinning and spinning like a sake board wheel. A good bearing will not make a sound when spun, any sound and it's bad.
If it smokes on start-up and gets worst the longer it's parked. i.e. 1 hour or over night. Very likely valve seals. Valve seals in 4.7L are very good ones. But must be properly maintained. 2 rules for proper maintenance:
1) Oil & filter change every 5K miles, but no more than 1 year. With synthetic oil & filter, you can go more miles.
2) Never use High Mileage oil (HM oil).
Your drive belt idler pulley bearing is bad. Free spinning and sound!
Your dr belt tensioner pulley bearing, seems okay. It slowed and I did not hear anything. So start with idler pulley and see results. If tensioner bearing bad, you've a few choices. 1: press in a new bearing. 2) Buy a tensioner assembly, and swap out the pulley. You can save the tensioner until in the area, such as time belt service which also when we like to replace fan bracket. This is provide you have good spring pull back from tensioner, otherwise 3) R&R tensioner assembly.
Your video "Fan Clutch" is a test of fan bracket, not the fan clutch. The free spinning with a slight sound, if it was a sound from bracket, which was hard to tell. Is not good! But I was unsure if I was hearing the bracket bearing. We a few test for fan bracket. One is only when removed during timing belt service. Which; is any oil seepage from seal in back, replace it.
You did one test, which is the spin while belt off. In this test you should not hear a sound. But we do get a little air movement sound from fan blade, which may obscure the test.
We also feel for any play, up and down. Any play and it's bad, and needs replace ASAP. Do not be confused with movement in fan clutch, as it will have play.
I've found the best test of a fan bracket bearing. Is with a $10 mechanics stethoscope. It is possible to reach the bracket housing just behind the pulley with tip of stethoscope probe, while belt on and engine running. If any chirp and/or sandy grind sound heard, it's bad.
Lack of sounds, with dr belt off, engine running, is good indicator of timing belt pulleys.
But if unsure of years and miles on timing belt/years since last done. Or if its tensioner & idler pulleys not replaced or not known with which manufactures pulleys. Consider doing the TB service. If you've Toyota or Lexus history, and it shows Dealerships did the service. Track down parts used. Very likely they did not replace the pulleys or fan bracket. Which they should have, but they don't 9 out of 10 T-belt services.
"Free spinning":
A new bearing will not free spin. It will barely spin 1 revolution, if that. Once a bearing broken in it will spin, but not just keep sinning and spinning like a sake board wheel. A good bearing will not make a sound when spun, any sound and it's bad.
Mauser
Supporting Vendor
I have had the blue smoke on startup. Check your power steering air control valve. They can go bad and suck atf into the intake. Notice it more at startup.
2001LC
SILVER Star
Good point.
Clue & test:
1) PS fluid (ATF) loss, without leaks.
2) PS fluid in idle up control vacuum line(s).
3) Test:
Last edited:
- Thread starter
- #16
Checking those hoses today. I have had PS steering fluid leaking for some time, but that was AFAIK due to the reservoir hose to the steering rack leaking.
- Thread starter
- #17
Thank you for the details. I will check this today, on this diagram, the pulley part doesn't appear to have a bearing. The bracket sub assembly seems to be what spins. Am I correct that I would need to replace the bracket sub assembly to resolve that issue? The whine seems to be coming from there. I agree that I need to grab a stethoscope and check more closely where the noise is coming from.
- Thread starter
- #18
Thanks for the reply, I will check on this today. Appreciate it.
2001LC
SILVER Star
I would first replace the dr belt idler pulley. It takes 5 minutes. Torque to 25ft-lbf, Make sure open side of pulley, faces to rear.
Id inspect fan bracket again with stethoscope. HF has them for $6
You're correct. That pulley you link diagram of, is what the dr belt rides on. It goes between the fan bracket and the fan clutch. It does not have a bearing.
You're correct. Fan bracket spins constantly on it's bearing at same RPM as engine. Driven via dr belt (AKA Serp belt, fan belt), driven by crankshaft. You can use the less costly Aisin FBT-002 fan bracket (FB) or Toyota Aisin FB. The Toyota Aisin is manufacture to a higher standard, but they're both good.
Note: Also the fan clutch (AKA Fluid coupling) also spins. Its resistance increases with heat. Google how to test it! Basically with dr belt holding the pulley engine off, you can spin the fan. You'll feel resistance. The resistance decreases the more you spin by hand. When engine started (cold), fan can't be stopped for about first 2 minutes. Than ~2 minutes later, fan blade can be stopped with water pressure, rolled paper or a hand held rag. As engine heats up coolant and it passes through the radiator. The heat from radiator, expanses the coil on front of fan clutch, which moving fluid within. You'll hear sound (turbo) of fan now spinning as if solid drive, which now its blade can not be stopped. These are clues of a good fan clutch. Fan clutch took the place of solid drive fan, to increase MPG.
The dr belt tensioner pulley bearing. We can just press in a new bearing. I do this if between Timing belt service. If doing a Time belt services, I'm inclined to replace the whole tensioner assembly which includes pulley/bearing.
Coolant leak at water inlet and..
Working on a 00LC w/169K miles. Note: title is only starting point, much more was done. First up is getting coolant leak(s) under control. Coolant leak repair is the most important thing we must fix. Then I'll move on to Power steering leaks and other issues. The water inlet to water by-pass...
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Idler & Tensioner Pulley Bearings, Drive belt (AKA Serpentine or fan belt)
Hey guy's anyone found a good source for the bearing of the: drive belt Idler Pulley part # 16604-0F010. The Bearing in it is a NSK BD20-15DUL: Edited 9/24/2019 Is a drive belt pulley bad: Sound is first alter bearing of pulley(s) may be going bad. To make sure which are bad remove the belt...
forum.ih8mud.com
- Thread starter
- #20
I purchased the Aisin fan clutch, and the tensioner bracket prior to this post. I will listen with a stethoscope and the plan is to replace both of those parts this weekend. Thanks for the links, I'll read over those as well.I would first replace the dr belt idler pulley. It takes 5 minutes. Torque to 25ft-lbf, Make sure open side of pulley, faces to rear.
Id inspect fan bracket again with stethoscope. HF has them for $6
You're correct. That pulley you link diagram of, is what the dr belt rides on. It goes between the fan bracket and the fan clutch. It does not have a bearing.
You're correct. Fan bracket spins constantly on it's bearing at same RPM as engine. Driven via dr belt (AKA Serp belt, fan belt), driven by crankshaft. You can use the less costly Aisin FBT-002 fan bracket (FB) or Toyota Aisin FB. The Toyota Aisin is manufacture to a higher standard, but they're both good.
Note: Also the fan clutch (AKA Fluid coupling) also spins. Its resistance increases with heat. Google how to test it! Basically with dr belt holding the pulley engine off, you can spin the fan. You'll feel resistance. The resistance decreases the more you spin by hand. When engine started (cold), fan can't be stopped for about first 2 minutes. Than ~2 minutes later, fan blade can be stopped with water pressure, rolled paper or a hand held rag. As engine heats up coolant and it passes through the radiator. The heat from radiator, expanses the coil on front of fan clutch, which moving fluid within. You'll hear sound (turbo) of fan now spinning as if solid drive, which now its blade can not be stopped. These are clues of a good fan clutch. Fan clutch took the place of solid drive fan, to increase MPG.
The dr belt tensioner pulley bearing. We can just press in a new bearing. I do this if between Timing belt service. If doing a Time belt services, I'm inclined to replace the whole tensioner assembly which includes pulley/bearing.
Coolant leak at water inlet and..
Working on a 00LC w/169K miles. Note: title is only starting point, much more was done. First up is getting coolant leak(s) under control. Coolant leak repair is the most important thing we must fix. Then I'll move on to Power steering leaks and other issues. The water inlet to water by-pass...
Idler & Tensioner Pulley Bearings, Drive belt (AKA Serpentine or fan belt)
Hey guy's anyone found a good source for the bearing of the: drive belt Idler Pulley part # 16604-0F010. The Bearing in it is a NSK BD20-15DUL: Edited 9/24/2019 Is a drive belt pulley bad: Sound is first alter bearing of pulley(s) may be going bad. To make sure which are bad remove the belt...
