Thought I would post this with a searchable title.
Since we bought our boat last June I have been fighting a serpentine belt squeal I changed belts, idler pulleys and just about every remedy I found on line it would go away for sometimes a week then return. Finally I found an old recall notice from mercruiser for the alternator, power steering and oil filter bracket also included a recall on the sea water pump bracket. If you take a straight edge and check the pulley alignment to the crank pulley mine were off about 1/8" on the sea water pump about 1/4" on the alternator pulley. This recall covers a lot of engines built from the mid 90's to 2002 it expired in 2004 for mercruiser to pay for repairs my Sea Ray dealer did pay for the brackets if I did the labor.
Yesterday I finally put the new sea water pump and bracket on (will rebuild the old one for a spare) then replaced the alternator bracket that bracket was one real pain you need to remove half the front port side of the engine. I started at 9:00 am finished at about 3:00 pm launched the boat after running on muffs looking for any leaks before launching out for a test ride squeal is finally gone. The pulleys now are all in line.
Since we bought our boat last June I have been fighting a serpentine belt squeal I changed belts, idler pulleys and just about every remedy I found on line it would go away for sometimes a week then return. Finally I found an old recall notice from mercruiser for the alternator, power steering and oil filter bracket also included a recall on the sea water pump bracket. If you take a straight edge and check the pulley alignment to the crank pulley mine were off about 1/8" on the sea water pump about 1/4" on the alternator pulley. This recall covers a lot of engines built from the mid 90's to 2002 it expired in 2004 for mercruiser to pay for repairs my Sea Ray dealer did pay for the brackets if I did the labor.
Yesterday I finally put the new sea water pump and bracket on (will rebuild the old one for a spare) then replaced the alternator bracket that bracket was one real pain you need to remove half the front port side of the engine. I started at 9:00 am finished at about 3:00 pm launched the boat after running on muffs looking for any leaks before launching out for a test ride squeal is finally gone. The pulleys now are all in line.
A mercrcruiser mechanic with 20 years experience told me about it while he was doing some work on my boat after a coupler replacement. I did find a copy of the recall notice on the web months ago but it took a lot of searching. The design of the Mando alernator bracket was completely changed. In the photo you can see how much bend is in the bracket. We were out yesterday for 10 hours sounds like a new engine again.