1993 240sx: are water pump pulley alignment problems common?

[vancouverbc]

My belt squeals like crazy at low rpm's and one side of belt is eaten away.It seems to be the water pump pulley. Is this a result of not using gaskets for the water pump?

[Shabbernigdo]

no i dont have any thing other then silicone gasket on my water pump and dont have any problems with it.

i have a 91 and im not sure what would cause the problem your having.are u sure the belt has the proper tension on it?

[Chris28]

The only thing that I can think of is maybe your crank pulley isn't on all the way, but then all the other pulleys would have the same thing happening to them. See if it's even on the right section of the pulley first, then try tightening the crank pulley bolt. Are you using the right belt? Maybe the belt's ribs are trying to line up incorrectly.

[Schrute Farms]

On my old DSM i had the same issue. Just threw a couple of washers behind the pully and voila no more squeaking and chewing through belts.

[vancouverbc]

Sorry, guys. Its not even the water pump belt. Took belt off and squealing continued . I had switched the water pump belt around and that had totally stopped the squealing for awhile so I assumed it was .

I used a stethoscope on the alternator, power steering and water pump and did not hear noise.

I think it is the bearings on the alternator because they had been making a noise.

Used a steel ruler and all the alignment looks good.

[vancouverbc]

Rubbed a bar a soap against the alt belt and after about 20 seconds all the noise went away. The belt is only a year old or so. I put an old belt on to see what will happen. the squealing occurred when there was a high electrical load ie lights and heater. The alt only has about 30,000 miles on it but for some reason the mechanic had the belt ridiculously tight. The pully does not wobble but there is a noise when i rotate the pulley .