Nice! Glad to hear it's trucking along, welcome back!

Awesome, as for the belt, I'd recommend you either try the factory motorcraft belt from a ford dealer, or a trick I learned is to take a piece of tire chalk and hold it against the front and back of the belt as the engine is running, it'll turn the belt somewhat white or yellow depending on the chalk color but it does work well, I generally only use it to diagnose that it is infact a serp belt causing the noise, I've always had good luck with oem belts over aftermarket, so you might try the ford belt, and if it begins to squeak I believe they'll warranty it for sometime


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I check out a Ford version of the belt. I've been using the good quality Gates green stripe belts. I replaced it with another and the squeal went away but then came back a short while afterward.

How do the indicator marks on the tensioner look? That will let you know if the belt length is a problem.

I hadn't thought about those. Actually haven't thought about them since I installed the tensioner. I'll check it out tomorrow. Is there a proper indication?

I think there are 3 marks. 2 are close together and the pointer mark should be between them on a new belt. The 3rd mark is further away and tells you when the belt is stretched too much or is too long.

Welcome back.

I tossed a little something for the skinny pedal in your mail box.

Oh boy....new tune! Does this one have afterburners?:)

I don't think mine has any marks. It's a new aftermarket unit. What do the marks look like? Are they the triangles like on this Motorcraft one? Would it tend to squeal with the belt to tight or to loose?

Yea...that's what I was thinking. But since it only squeals on startup, I think once the belt heats up a little, it loosens and the squeal goes away. And when I say on startup only, it really is only like 3-5 seconds and then it goes away.

I checked it a while ago and amps were fine (can't remember the exact #). I also hooked up my 4Runner's battery (jumped) and started the Bronco and it still squealed. Not sure if that was a good test or not though.

I actually replaced the alternator with one that has a larger pulley. No difference so far.

Is there a way to restrict the alternator current from reaching the battery for say 5 seconds or so? I don't know what that type of hardware would be called.

If I disconnect the alternator from the battery, will I still be able to start it? Thinking that would be a good test.

Just pull the plug on the top of the alternator to test. You would need some kind of timed relay for the delay. I don't know of any in the aftermarket auto industry. I think the Ford version is computer controlled. Maybe Garry can find a way to do that with an unused output in the ECM?

Just pulled the plug and started it. It squealed just a tiny bit, much less than normal. This makes me think I have two issues. The alternator one and maybe a misalignment in the belt somewhere?

Might just be a length or misalignment issue that is made worse with the load of the alternator.

Guess I'll get one size larger belt and try that. I think the next size is to large though.

The A9L does already have code in it to delay alternator charging, the bigger question would be if it actually has the hardware inside to support it. A reman unit might, I doubt an OE would. It also looks like you could get creative with either the thermactor or A/C settings to do the same thing. I wouldn't try it unless you run out of other options though.

I have to agree that it's probably just a tension or alignment issue made worse with the alternator load. Are you running an A/C delete pulley or just a shorter belt?

Just a shorter belt.

What belt length are you running now? The part number has the length in it.

K060870 sounds right. Should be 87.0". If you have any aftermarket pulleys there could be a difference in the required length. What I would do is mark the tensioner, take the belt off and see if the tensioner is working in the first half of it's travel.