i'm curious what a bad tensioner would "feel" like. i have this whirring noise from something on the serpentine belt, it stops when i took the belt off. my first thought was steering or water pump. with the steering pump replaced the sound is still there. if i were to check out the tensioner, could i feel play in the pulley? the sound has been going on for a while, what should i look for? resistance in the pulley... sounds when spinning... anything else? Thanks in advance.

 

well is the tensionor loose on teh serpintine blet as to where you can actaully feel slack in the belt. if not it may be the part of the tensioner needs lubing, also i just remembered i had a whirring noise on my car but it turned out to be the mechanical fan. really for a quick solution spray WD-40 on what you think is bad and see what you spray that stops the noise.