There is a rattle in my engine and the only way to describe the sound is like when a pressure cooker is cooking and is rattling when the food is ready. I've climbed under the truck and looked at it through the wheel wells. The only thing i can think is that its one of the pulley's on the truck for the belt. the belt is tight and when i asked one of the guys at firestone a couple weeks ago, he said it couldnt be a pulley because of the automatic tensioner.

but could the pully just be rusty and thats why it rattles? also, it was doing it this morning, and right when i got out of work, but i drove maybe 10mins getting home and now it isnt rattling. It is alot colder out now, and it seems that if its colder, it dosent rattle as much, it definitely happens when its warm though.

any ideas, thoughts or suggestions. It'd be cool if it were the pully's cause then i could buy the troyer pullies and get some hp!

thanks guys,
John

 

Had the same type of issue awhile back, and it ended up being the idler pulley bearing. About $14 at NAPA, (and a new belt 'cause I needed one anyway), and I was good to go.

Andy

 

OhioLariat,

thanks for the reply, i'm glad somebody has had this experience. my next question on this topic is, how did you figure out which pulley needed to be replaced (or in your case, how did you figure out which bearing needed to be replaced)

thanks for your help again!
John

 

Removed the belt, and spn the pulleys by hand. The one that was grinding was the one I replaced.

Andy

 

Remove the belt, and start the engine. If the noise is gone, it's a belt driven noise. If the noise remains, it's not. Simple and quick.

Checking pulleys by hand often won't tell you a thing. Sometimes, but more often than not, you'll just be chasing your tail.

Pull the belt and see if the noise remains. Shouldn't take more than a minute or so, start to finish.