Belt Squeak

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So after cleaning up the rusty pulleys that were causing premature belt wear and resulting in lots of dirt and dust in my engine compartment, I've got a belt squeak when I start the motor. It goes away once I throttle down to neutral from fast idle position. I also replaced the alternator as part of this work. Spent about 5 hours cruising around the lake today and it squeaked every time I started up from the fast idle position then would go away and not squeak at all. Ran great rest of the time. Belts are nice and tight and engine compartment was nice and clean/belt dust free after all day of use. Any ideas what would cause the squeak? TIA
 

dypcdiver

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What were you running that was draining from the battery, could be causing a load on the alternator. My fridge used to cause this if it was running the compressor and trying to cool some warm beer!
 

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Nothing was draining the battery. Old alternator was fine except the top most bolt mount snapped after I cranked down on it too hard 😖. Could it be the alternator causing the squeak? It's keeping the charge at 14.7 at idle so no issues there.
 

Tail_Gunner

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Have you changed belts if so are you using a original penta belt or a gatorback??
 

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I changed the belts out when I tuned up last spring so they're new except for the recent excessive wear on them from the rusty pulley's that I just took care of. They had maybe 5 hours on them a the most before I restored the pulley's. They were wearing from the rust and kept loosening. I ordered both the raw water pump and alternator pump belts from Iboats volvo site but they're goodyear and the circ pump belt I purchased locally and its got the grooves in it if that makes any difference. I had no squeaking prior to replacing the alternator and refurbishing the pulley's. Also, when i started her up in the driveway (always do that before taking her to the lake after i do any work) there was no squeak at all. Two days later at the lake, its squeaking.
 

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I just noticed that the wheel on the alternator doesn't spin perfectly round. Would that cause an issue? It's a bit wobbly for lack of a better term....
 

Tail_Gunner

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As to the belt's not just any belt will work what year and model number do you have...Gator backs or volvo belts work consistently i believe there is a very small alignment issue with Volvo's that cause this issue its a factory thing ...eyeball for the lack of better term's your all you pulleys to the crankshaft you will find a small issue.....
 

Bondo

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Ayuh,..... Get yerself a bar of Lava hand soap,....

Very Carefully, with the motor idlin', rub the workin' surfaces of the belts, with the Lava soap bar,....

Yer squeak should disappear,...
 

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Hmmm very interesting. Thanks for the tip Bondo. Will definitely try that. You don't think the alternator not spinning true is a problem to be concerned with?
 

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Well, tried the soap trick and that didn't work. Been out a few times since I replaced the alternator and today was the worst. It's definitely a bad alternator and it not spinning true is causing the squeak and belt smoke. Although it's strange cause when I start it, it will spin visually out of balance and the voltmeter will read around 12 then usually after about 10-15 seconds it jumps to 14 volts and the wheel starts to spin without the visible wobble to it. I can even hear the difference once it goes from 12 to 14. Today though it wouldn't spin up to 14 for a good 15 minutes and would squeak and smoke every time I gave it throttle. Anyway, I emailed DB electrical so hopefully they'll make good on it. We shall see. I'm thinking to just take my original ac delco alternator to a machine shop and have them fix the top bolt mount that broke. That one worked great.
 

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ARRGGHHHHH!!! Guess that's what you get for going the cheapo route and buying crap from Amazon!! Bought the DB electrical alternator through amazon on July 13, their return/repair policy is 14 days. DB Electrical refuses to do anything about it because it was sold through amazon so I'm stuck with a junk alternator. Very annoying....

Can I get some recommendations on a replacement alternator quick? Need to get it in the boat before Friday.... I'm all ears.
 

mandmj

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find a local alternator shop. when mine on a VP went bad, they got me one the next day (oem marine valeo), cheaper than the dealer. Its possible they could help out your messed up one as well.
 

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Well to update on this issue... after much persistence, DB electrical wanted nothing to do with it and put it all on Amazon because it was sold through amazon. I persisted and finally got an amazon customer service number, called and got a refund less a restocking fee. So all good, pulled it out last night and shipped it back.
I do think its crazy though that DB electrical doesn't stand behind their products when its a blatant defect. I think of the example of buying a TV, say a Samsung or lg in best buy... If i had an issue with it that was defect based or a warranty claim I would go through the manufacturer not best buy, but whatever I guess I'm wrong or at least the guys from DB electrical said I was wrong lol. Anyway, sorry for the rant... I wouldn't recommend them for their stuff now that's for sure.. Ordered a Sierra replacement through IBoats.com. Customer service was/is excellent and I hear Sierra stands behind the quality of their products.
 

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So the Sierra alternator is the same exact alternator as the DB electrical??? But for $120 more?? Wtf?? Are there no American made alternators out there that are easily obtained?
 

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I'm at my wits end!!! Third alternator and it still squeals??? This one looks like it spins straight, installed it, fired it up in the driveway and spun right up to provide the 14+ V right away and no squeal - all good. NO, took it to the lake on Tuesday and first start up no issues, same as in the driveway. Anchored for a while in our cove and then started up and got the same issue as before with the squeal and slow spin up to 14+V. It stays at just over 12+ for about 10-15 seconds then seems like it spins up to 14+ just like the original new one that didn't spin straight. Totally confused. Maybe I have the belt too tight? I restored all of the pulleys prior to replacing the alternator so that's the only other thing that changed. The belt is new as of last fall although did get eaten up a bit from the corroded pulleys which caused me to restore the pulleys. Guess I should try changing the belt?
 

Maclin

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Are you sure the belt is the correct width? It should fit deep in the well of the Vee.
 

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Pretty sure it is. Will take a pic and post later today. Thx
 

dypcdiver

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My refrigerator when cooling from warm used to chew through an alternator belt in 10hrs of running, it used to squeal because it bottomed out in the pulley. The engine used to be covered in black dust. 65amps through a single belt is a big ask.
 

mandmj

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I would consider checking the alignment of the pulleys. some of the older vp motors had alignment issues. a 2' straight edge worked well for me. also another trick to diagnose which pulley is the problem is a squirt bottle w/ water in it. squirt it right before the belt enters the pulley (engine running BE CAREFUL). see if it stops if it stops instantly, that is likely the culprit, but if takes a fraction of a second, likely elsewhere. the squeak is like from the ribbed side of the pulley, but if any items run on the back of the belt, check those too. finally if you have a tenionser, it could be failing as well.
 

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Hey again guys, so finally got around to getting into the boat to snap a few pics. Dypcdiver, your comment reminded me that the squeal typically only happens when there's excessive load like when I'm trimming up or down. Also a few times that it was squealing after start up I'd get a bit of smoke then he squeal would stop and no more smoke and all good. Manmj, I'll check the alignment but wouldn't mis alignment cause the squeal to be happening all the time not intermittent like it is?

Anything glaring in the photos?





 
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