Getting sick of this crap...alternator causing serp belt squealing.

[3Bar_Mopar]

I got a new alternator last year....they have a metal sleeve that's pressed into the part that goes into where the pivot bolt goes to help center it. When I tighten down the alternator pivot bolt, the metal sleeve in the alt. bushing presses against the sleeve in the alternator bracket and moves it...so then my alternator is out of alignment.

I'm not tightening the pivot bolt too hard...in fact, I left it a little too loose to avoid this problem and the alternator was c-ocked a bit. I tried to tighten it up slowly and carefully and it started moving the sleeve, so now my belt squeaks bad. This is aggravating...is there a way to solve this?

[turbovanman²]

Go get a junk yard Nippo alt, I've personally never seen this or had an issue unless someone left the bolt(s) loose and it elongated the holes,

[shelbymonster]

did you try the poly bushings for the alternator ? i did have a problem like you and changed the bushings and now it lines up

[shackwrrr]

when I changed the alt on my roommates daytona, there was a metal spacer in between to prevent that from happening

[3Bar_Mopar]

when I changed the alt on my roommates daytona, there was a metal spacer in between to prevent that from happening

That's exactly what this needs...every alternator I've seen online from Advance, O'reilly's or anywhere else don't have the spacer...where can I get one?

[shadow88]

I leave mine loose.

[3Bar_Mopar]

[shackwrrr]

That's exactly what this needs...every alternator I've seen online from Advance, O'reilly's or anywhere else don't have the spacer...where can I get one?

I think i might still have it laying around, wont be till monday untill im in the shop again though.

[3Bar_Mopar]

I think i might still have it laying around, wont be till monday untill im in the shop again though.

That's cool...if you could send it to me or something I could always have an extra or something.

[black86glhs]

Go to a hardware store and get a 3" or 6" piece of 5/16" pipe. Cut it to size and install while putting the bolt back in.

[3Bar_Mopar]

I went to the junkyard today and got a metal spacer like Shackwrrr mentioned...I installed it and it still squeals...lol. I have poly bushings in it already and that don't help obviously. The belt looks like it's perfectly centered on the alt pulley...my water pump pulley has some surface rust near the middle and inside of the pulley, where the belt rode more toward the outside of it....Now that the belt is centered and riding on some of the rusty area, could that be a cause? I'm probably going to remove the pulley and scotch-brite the hell out of it tomorrow....get it nice and mirror finish.

[black86glhs]

Definitely clean up the pulley, but also tighten the belt a couple turns of the adjuster unless it is already really tight(which you know it isn't supposed to be).

[csomni]

replace the belt

[3Bar_Mopar]

replace the belt

It's brand new. Got it Saturday...it was the best Gates belt they had.

[audiomaninc]

I had the same problem I battled for weeks! i changed alternators, pulleys, tensioners, bushings, you name it, I changed it. In another thread, that you can probably easily find with the search thingy, I read a TSB about how to perfectly align the alternator so that it doesn't squeak. The thing was fine for a day or two, then it squeaked again! Finally, I looked at things from a different perspective, more specifically, the side of the bel routing. I figured out that even though the belt was tightening like it was supposed to with the tensioner, the alternator was sitting at a bad angle to the water pump pulley. Not a left to right angle, causing misalignment, but up-down so to speak, causing not enough of the back of the belt to contact the water pump pulley. I went down to Advance, got a few of there most dayco belts, in various shorter sizes, and found the one that worked best for me. It's been on for months now without a peep! I hope this helps, it's really frustrating to have a good running car that squeaks like a mouse.

[3Bar_Mopar]

I think I got it fixed. Replaced the sleeves in the bushings because mine looked rough, then I flipped the belt around...so far no squeek since this morning. Finally.

[Dez]

I have the same problem. It squeaks and "pops"? The belt has been chewed up a on the inside few times from it being misaligned. This started ever since my alternator teardrop bushing failed. I replaced it with one of the aluminum ones. Still have the problem. I have adjusted the washers that go in between the teardrop and waterpump and it seems as tho the problem is fixed...No squeaks...Until the next morning when it the annoyance comes back...Grrrrrr.......One washer = Belt being chewed up on the inside. Two washers = squeak and popping (Probably from the belt riding on the inside).

My alternator does have polybushings and it does have the metal sleeve between them. I'm running out of ideas on how to fix it...

89 Chrysler lebaron

[135sohc]

Through stupidity one day about 3 years ago my alternator managed to fall out of the mounting bracket late one night and literally lost every bit of all that factory metal spacing and alighment hardware including the rubber bushings with their special metal inserts. I thought I 'fixed' it but over the course of the following 3 months the car consumed 3 belts and tossed them like a salad. Using an assortment of headbolt washers and making a spacer sleeve with a bronze and steel bushing I rigged up a setup that has been working flawlessly (knocks on wood lol) ever since. No noise, no belt consumption problems. I'll get a picture of my setup tomorrow since that bracket has been removed for other reasons.

[Dez]

Sounds good. I'm heading to the junkyard today to see if I might possibly be missing a piece of the puzzle. I'm going to yank all the hardware necessary to install the alternator.

[trannybuster]

Pure alignment issue...