Bearings ? or water pump?

phantom4867 · May 18, 2008

Hi to all,
New here.:SNSign:
I did a search for an old thread but didn't find one so here goes.
I have a basiclly stock '70 302 that I just bought. I am in what I would call the "first Aid" stage. Getting it running, patching the floors and stopping the rust etc.
The problem I am having is at high rpms there is a high pitched whine( like a belt slipping) comming from what sounds like the center of the belt ,pulley, fan blade area. I have disconnected the belts at different times to isolate the sound but no luck!. It may be the water pump but it seems solid and no seepage at the hole. Anyone have any other ideas? I am on a pretty limited budget. Any suggestions would be grately appreciated.

Rusty67 · May 18, 2008

Do you have a clutch fan ? Also, try running the car with no belts. Its not going to hurt anything if you run it with no water pump for a minute.

phantom4867 · May 19, 2008

No clutch fan. I have run it without belts. No sound then but don't know if it is a bearing on the shaft that holds the fan or if it is the water pump still.

Rusty67 · May 19, 2008

Try running it without the flex fan and see if the noise still shows up. If it doesn't then it could be the bearing in the water pump starting to go.

D.Hearne · May 19, 2008

Might also be the Alternator.

phantom4867 · May 22, 2008

OK so we are back to the alternator and the water pump. But how do I check them other than wiggle the shafts to see if they are loose? Sorry, I'm just getting into this stuff so my ????? may seem pretty simple.
Thanks for all the suggestions and advice!!

Rusty67 · May 22, 2008

Do you have a v-belt setup ? If so, do you have power steering ? If you have power steering then you should be able to remove the alternator/fan belt and keep the water pump going with the power steering belt. If you still hear the noise try reversing the belts and see if it goes away. If it still doesn't go away then its the water pump right ?

phantom4867 · May 22, 2008

I do have a v-belt set up-up. I did the belt test in the beginning. No noise with the alternator belt. Noise with the water pump/ power steering belt.
So if there is any noise at all then it is the water pump?

Rusty67 · May 22, 2008

Do you have any other pumps hooked up ? Smog/AC or anything else ? Any idler pullys ?

phantom4867 · May 22, 2008

no other pumps, pulleys etc.

tylerrocks · May 23, 2008

bearings should give a distinctive metalic screeching sound at most rpms. High rpm sounds like belt slippage.

phantom4867 · May 23, 2008

New belts though and are as tight as I can make them. Less than 1/2" play in both. I thought about roughening the belts and pullys surface up a bit to aid in (traction?)

Capt Dan · May 23, 2008

I always heard you could use a bar of soap on the surface of the belt to stop it from squeeling. Hold the bar of soap against the pully surface of the belt while it is turning to 'grease' it. watch your fingers.

phantom4867 · May 23, 2008

I'll try that. Thanks to all.

D.Hearne · May 23, 2008

Better than soap is plain old "belt dressing" Sold at the local parts house in a spray can. Used to be black stuff in a squirt can for this. It helped the sqealing anf traction.

Rusty67 · May 24, 2008

I was told never to use belt dressing as it will eventually glaze the pullies and make the belt worthless over time. I'm not sure how true that is. I think Gaskasinch can be used as belt dressing.

D.Hearne · May 24, 2008

We used to use bottles and bottles of the stuff in a sawmill. Never hurt the belts or pulleys. It actually made the belts last longer.

zookeeper · May 24, 2008

This may sound dumb, but are the crank and water pump pulleys scraping? I made the mistake of letting my original pulleys go with the old motor, and the ones I had to buy off ebay to replace them actually touched each other ever so slightly when the motor ran, and it sounded exactly like a wasted alternator. I discovered it by the paint scraped off the pulleys, then took the water pump pulley to work and shaved .060" off it and no more problem. The o.d. of the pulley isn't important because the v-belts ride in the groove, not the o.d. Just a thought...

phantom4867 · May 24, 2008

Thanks to all!
I dressed the new belts and soaped the pulleys.
NO SQUEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Again, much appreciated!!!! have a great long weekend.

Bearings ? or water pump?

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