Ticking/rubber noise remains after water pump replacement

[Idledrummer]

Hello everyone,
Yesterday I replace the water pump, with OEM purchased at dealer. The reason was to get rid of the noise. Last year I had replaced the belt tensioner, the guiding pulley and the belt to try to resolve this ticking noise when the engine is running. Without the belt, there is no noise. Yesterday, After the engine warmed up, the noise almost disappeared. Is this normal sound? Thinking of changing the belt again, since I had sprayed belt conditioner in the past. There was never a cooling problem, just the noise worries me that I am about to break down somewhere.
Any advice what else I can look, or test?

Video after pump replaced: https://youtu.be/IQLwtJRdwWA?si=u71kutBu_5d2BSoe

Thank you,
Ti

 

[Jeepwalker]

Replacing the belt might help you zero in on the problem. If it remains with a new belt, than it's probably something else ....like the alternator (which it kind of sounds like). If it goes away than it was probably something with the belt. Which begs another question.

One thing you might do before replacing the belt is inspect the alternator pulley for wear (and other pulleys and belt ribs). You can see in the image below that there is a slight flat spot on each pulley 'rib'. A worn pulley will have 'sharp' ridges allowing the belt to ride too low and not grip very well. So a new belt might help the problem, but not solve it (if a pulley is worn). I had that problem once on a non-Ram V8. If I had the alternator off to remove the pulley, or even while or before replacing the belt, I would be inclined to take it to a legit alternator/starter shop (not parts store) for a free test ...just to get a condition assessment. They usually give you more info than a parts store. Your ticking/squeaking sound almost sounds like it could be to do with the alternator. Not sure ...Worth looking into.

Also worth inspecting could be the spring in your belt tensioner. The coils of the spring might be dry and rubbing together. Usually the tensioner assembly can be split apart and you could re-lube the spring. Even just to cross it off your list. I honestly haven't taken a Ram one apart, but I've taken other mfgrs apart before. It looks similar to others ...so.

Some guys recommend using the wood-stick-to-the-ear trick ...to try to 'hear' where the sound is coming from. Youtube-it. Use extreme care if doing it while the engine is running.

Good luck. Let us know what the ultimate solution turns out to be.

 

[Idledrummer]

Thank you for all the detailed suggestions. I will start with the belt again. Here the video of the noise subsiding by me adding just water to the back of the belt.

Adding water to belt

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[Idledrummer]

Hello everyone, just wanted to update you all and thank you again! After replacing the water pump to OEM and belt, the noise is gone. My conclusion: the pump was making the initial noise, I changed to new belt, noise continued, I sprayed everything I could find on the belt to resolve the noise, didn’t work, replaced the water pump with the old belt, quieter but still some noise, replace new belt, all noise gone.

 

[EdGs]

Thank you for posting the solution.

That is exactly the thing that helps others down the road.