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Hi,
This is just a thought on your short loud noise that the neighbors could hear and you know it wasn’t from a cat under the hood!
You might want to check out the part of the wiring harness where is goes under the front of the engine from the alternator.
If you have had a “long time soaking of oil” down in that harness, you might be working with an intermittent short to ground. The regulator responds very quickly to drops of tenth of volt.
It might be the dash wire from the cluster.
Insulation does break down or soften under the oils cleaning additives and harsh cleaning soaps for the engine.
There is also the big wire that goes all the way over to the starter and on up to the battery.
This is an unfused circuit due to the amount of great draw from the starter when it is operated.
Likewise, the alternator can push current the other way back!
This is not an unknown phenomenon and could cause a momentary “squeal” from the alternator when it’s regulator reads a dramatic drop in voltage due to the load or grounding of the exciter wire. The light will never blink on but a voltmeter will wave!
The alternator can make squeaks and rumble at the same time and any the bad mounts can contribute to the noise you heard!
Three years is quite a long time for most run of the mill “basement quality belts” sold.
That is until the GoodYear “The Quiet Belt” brand came along.
Gates and Continental were envious for a few years.
As I had remembered they were made in New Jersey from a special shop there.
They had a nice proprietary poly rubber composition and the angular tooth notch design used within the industrial side of commerce. Just something I knew from within my working days and not liking large horsepower motors making a seating/slip noise and overheating their pulleys. That excessive friction leads to bearing failures!
Then came the, “Made in Mexico” and that made me look them up!
Now they are part of Continental’s of family of products. They like good stuff too!
Maybe? made in Germany, the USA or Mexico? It’s a global economy today!
About five years back they bought out GoodYear”s automotive belt line but left the “GatorBack” brand name recognition behind.
The old adage of what is yours, stays yours but I if get my name on it, it’s ALL mine!
The Engine belts I find now, that are identical in tooth design, but are by Continental Elite “ONLY!” The full name was Goodyear/Gator Back “Matchmakers.”
So if you want them, you have to be very careful to expressly look for or ask that you want the “ELITE” versions!
Just like other things, there is good and there’s better, with cheap and inferior always lurking within an easy reach! Luckily some companies have standards!
You see it’s what happens if you make a great product you get headhunted!
Many marketing outlets look only for the bottom line products for net profits!
Goodyear got very hard to find due to a percentage bottom line on both sides of the aisle automotive wise! Industrial is a whole animal unto itself!
I still have had good luck with these sizes below fitting the many cars that I have.
They run about $1 or $2 more but in the long run you don’t hear them making squishy/ whirlybird sounds a year or so later. I get an easy four or five years on them.
Sort of matches coolant changes today!
Alternators
15371 = 925 millimeters
11AV0925
Power steering
15356
It wider than stock and It rides a little higher in the pulley. This helps to deadened the PS pulley “diaphragm like” speaker cone effect.
There is plenty of adjustment downwards to allow for it.
11AV0890
Air Conditioning
17386 = 980 millimeters. I have gotten away with Car Quest Green stripe brand but those makers can change direction at any time, like a dogs tail!
13AV0980 or a 975 works
Just a few heads up thoughts and it’s all I can say for right now.
Phil
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