Dave26985

I noticed a klicking sound from my engine compartment yesterday after a "quick acceleration". Only hear it when idling. Visual check shows that the belt tensioner is jumping fairly heavily and is actually clicking against the limiter on the bracket itself. Is that probably the bearings in the tensioner itself, or might that indicate another problem ? Any and all ideas or comments would be greatly appreciated.

C409

..... Take the serpentine belt off and spin the various pulleys by hand to see if you can see , feel , or hear anything ... the A/C compressor and the A.I.R. pump are notoriously noisy but it could also be a bearing on an idler / tensioner pulley or the alternator ... if you can't find an obvious culprit just turn the radio up ... if you have a Bose , that might be the source of the clicking sounds .....

Weck86

Visual check shows that the belt tensioner is jumping fairly heavily and is actually clicking against the limiter on the bracket itself. comments would be greatly appreciated. [/QUOTE]

That is too much movement in the belt tensioner. Something is not right. I suspect the tensioner itself. I'd replace it. Not that expensive or hard to do. As suggested while the belt is off check the other pulley(s) for play. Might as well put on new belt also.

ghoastrider1

Oh no. car cannot be repaired without great expense. Tell me where its at and I will come tow it away for free..just leaVE SIGNED TITLE ON FRONT SEAT... Just kidding, those things replaced easily and somewhat cheaply.

Dave26985

That is too much movement in the belt tensioner. Something is not right. I suspect the tensioner itself. I'd replace it. Not that expensive or hard to do. As suggested while the belt is off check the other pulley(s) for play. Might as well put on new belt also.[/QUOTE]

Thanks guy's. Just got done replacing the tensioner pully and all is quite again. I used the same belt because it looked like new as it only has about 1,000 miles on it, but about how often would you normally think it should be changed ?

Dave26985

LMAO, Yhea, that would have been my second choice if the R/R on the pulley didn't work. but thanx anyway....

DGXR

Modern EPDM serpentine belts *can* go up to 100,000 miles but many people replace them sooner. The owner's manual for my 1995 LT1 requires only an inspection of the belt every 24 months or 30k miles. The belt life depends on various things: condition/drag of accessory systems, alignment of pulleys, frequent engine revving, harsh weather/driving conditions etc. The belt is not expensive and on a Corvette I'd replace it every 50-60k (or 5-7 years) depending on conditions.

Dave26985

Yeah, thanx for the info DGXR, So the way I've been driving this beast I'll probably be checking it after 5K miles or so.
By the way I am a new member, as you can see, but I entered a profile picture a day or two ago and it is not showing up on my posts, does anyone now why not ?

Dave26985

Also I thought I had this clicking problem solved, but today I noticed that the tensioner does not click on the limiter of its own bracket with the A/C off, but as soon as I turn on the A/C it starts clicking again, and I can easily see that the tensioner is moving far enough to click against its own bracket. I wonder if I could upload a short video of the change so you could see what I'm talking about. But this is making me think that the A/C pulley might have an issue that is causing to much drag on the belt. So would you guy's agree ?

Dave26985

I thought I had this clicking problem solved, but today I noticed that the tensioner does not click on the limiter of its own bracket with the A/C off, but as soon as I turn on the A/C it starts clicking again, and I can easily see that the tensioner is moving far enough to click against its own bracket. I wonder if I could upload a short video of the change so you could see what I'm talking about. But this is making me think that the A/C pulley might have an issue that is causing to much drag on the belt. So would you guy's agree ?

DGXR

It's possible I guess, But I don't think so. In most accessory drive systems, the crank will pull the belt (high tension side) though all the various accessories and idler pulleys, and the tensioner is the last item (low tension side) so it deals with less force and its job is merely to take up the slack, which varies a bit depending on accessory use and throttle application (free rev or in gear). So I can't imagine that the belt tensioner is located between the "pull" side of the crank and the AC pulley.

These photos are the C4 LT1 accessory drive - you can see the tensioner is last in line from the pull side of the crank (ignore the yellow circle):

Dave26985

Yes I see what you mean DGXR, even though mine is a slightly different configuration since it is an L98, but the same basic principle would apply, except my A/C compressor is on the passenger side not the drivers side, so maybe that is why its getting pull from that side. So I'm guessing I should just take off the belt and check all the pulley's including the tensioner to narrow down the problem area. Would that be your suggestion ? also with my L98 the tensioner is actually up near that area in the diagram that has the yellow circle around it and not down lower where it is on the LT-1.

hcbph

Dave

I also have a L98 and from what I remember you can get just the idler pulley or the whole thing from RockAuto.

Pulley is $10-$20 while if you need the whole thing it's like $70-$90 based on my 86.

Not too bad either way. If you have enough tension on the arm, I suspect all you'd need is the pulley if that's your issue.

DGXR

Yes pull the belt and check all the pulleys for smoothness, loose or noisy bearings, and condition of the pulley surface (clean or replace as necessary). Some people have issues getting the belt past the crank pulley but all you have to do is twist it sideways and slide it through the space, do this while the belt is floppy (last step when removing, first while replacing). In other words, have the belt off all the pulleys when you do this slipping past the crank pulley, this way you'll have 100% slack in the belt.

I'm not aware of any way to test for proper spring tension, so if everything else checks out OK, you may want to look for a way to test the tension. (I'm not a fan of throwing new parts at problems without a proper diagnosis.)

If you do replace the tensioner, they are not too expensive but may be a chore to replace, I've never done it myself. Rockauto has tensioners for the 1991 L98 (Ecklers and Zip Corvette are WAY more expensive):

http://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/c...ensioner,11659

Also here are a couple threads that should be helpful:

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...er-pulley.html
https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...t-install.html

Good luck

Dave26985

thanks so much for your input. I'll let you know what happens when I get back to it. 👍🏻