ceberus

After replacing the fuel pump, I now have another problem. There's a squeak or rattle near my water pump when the car is at idle. If I increase the RPMs to 700, it goes away.

I am wondering if this is a belt issue, or if I am about to lose my water pump?

viii

put a little soap on the belt and see if the squeak temporarily goes away, that will isolate the belt. doubt the water pump is gonna give you a squeak at certain rpms

c4cruiser

Could be either the serp belt tensioner or the idler pulley.

johnnymo63

My idler pulley made a whining or whistling sound at idle. I could feel it was "rough" when I put it on my finger and turned it by hand. A new one is about $10. Cheap enough to try, just for peace of mind.

No Go

I second the idler pulley...I've replaced mine twice due to noise, siezure. Also had the tensioner make noise-replaced.

Prices have gone up...about $45 for either from Chris May at Superior Chevrolet (Forum Discount!)

Cheers!

MrRenoman

You can buy just the bearing, pretty easy to remove and replace, and cheaper than the whole thing. But I did find an entire unit at Kragen fairly inexpensive. I was on the road and thought I'd pick one up for the tool box.

Art

Edmond

Had that experience with a non-Corvette. The pulley seized up and would not move at all. Ended up burning and snapping the belt. Stranded in a parking lot with no belt, I just drove the car home without the belt, put on a new pulley and belt a few hours later.

davenbocafl

The squeak, I replaced complete idler,waterpump, a/c compressor,smog pump,alternator,belt twice and still have that squeak when i first start up for about 2 or 3 mins. although its less, it drives me nuts, but doesnt hurt anything

engle1147

I had the exact same problem and I'm with the idler pulley crew! It's the idler pulley making the tap tap noise but the reason is that the belt is stretched/worn out.....there is nothin' wrong with the idler pulley. If you look close you will see that the ilder pulley has a stop tab on it that hits the bracket when it is not loaded on the belt.....as the belt stretches or gets grooved out the pulley stop gets closer and closer to the bracket until it just barely hits it and makes a taping noise at idle. The noise goes away when the engine RPMs increase because the tension dynamics of the belt/pulley change as the crank tugs on it.

Long story short ...change the "S" belt.

Good Luck!

steve40th

you have a 92? Its the ribbed idler pulley, correct.
I would replace bearing in idler pulley, very cheap.
Or I would convert to the 94-96 pullley system to get cheaper belts, only has grooves on one side.
I do have one from my 93, as I converted it back in the 90's to the 94-96. If you cant find one. But converting to the 94-96 system is better.

MikeC4

Yep, replace all components that contain bearings and your bound to fix your problem.

No Go

MikeC4: Hey, if one is bad the others are close behind, right?