Alright, you guys flamed me for taking the car to a mechanic, so I am taking your advice. I need whatever opinions you can furnish, though.
An intermittant cyclical noise is eminating from the PowerSteering/AirConditioning belt assembly tensioner. The tensioner is a little wobbly, just barely perceptible, and the belt was pretty loose. The noise happened mostly when it was humid in the morning or the roads where wet, so I assumed it was just a loose belt, and adjusted the tensioner accordingly. Then on the way to work, the noise happened again: it was dry outside, too!
The noise used to only happen at idle (1k rpms and below) today it started out across all rpms and then settled into only occurring at idle again, and then would actually go away once per stop after the throttle was goosed once after idle!
The belt is running on the outside 90% of the tensioner. The edge of the belt is flush with the edge of the tensioner, but there is some room and therefor rust on the inside 10% of the tensioner.
So my questions are:
Is this just a matter of me being scurred to tighten the belt enough?
Is the tensioner making noise because the bearings are shot?
If so, why is the noise intermittent?
If the bearings are shot, is it beacause the tensioner is just a little out of line with the belt/other pulleys?
Cheapest place to get accessory belt tensioner (so far seems a Satan-only part)?

Just get a new tensioner. I got one from a guy on here for $35.

-Roman

Are you sure it's the tensioner .. and are you sure it's that belt. The drive belt is right there too. It could even be a very small coolant leak getting on the belt causing that noise. There are several possibilities.

1999 Eclipse GST 4G63

..just to add: its normal for the belt to run on the outer edge of the tensioner. sounds to me like the bearings are bad. search, theres a tensioner rebuild kit availible (i cant remember the site or part number offhand).

:shhh: i do cocaine :/shhh:

Thanks for the input, everyone. I tightened up the tensioner, and the problem only got worse, as in the noise was constant. So I loosened it up a bit in the parking lot at work, before I came home on Friday.
ALERT DON"T BE STUPID LIKE ME:
I forgot to tighten down the actual tensioner after I made my adjustments, and the belt started to walk off the pulleys! :p
It took me a while to get the tensioner adjustment bolt out enough to slip the belt back on the pulleys, and in the meantime, people from work are all like "what's wrong with your car?" one after another for 20 minutes as they left. Don't be dumb like me! Anyway, I have heard the problem for maybe 10 minutes overall since I loosened the belt (correctly, this time) and so I know it is the tensioner bearing now, as the loose belt (just shy of slipping) doesn't tug it enough to make the noise. I went to the boneyard, no eclipses, and 2 420A neons. However, the neon is nothing like our motor! I thought they were "the same" but I am left to assume they only share the engine block, as the 2 motors look very different. Plus, someone already got the tensioners off these neons, so I couldn't even tell if this would work for someone that could find them.

I sent you an email Mike.

Scratch that email. I didn't read the post below....sorry.

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/3130861

I got the bearing number and replaced it for $25. OEM was NSK bearing # 6301DU2 and the replacement was TIMKEN bearing part# 301-SS. I slapped that bitch in there and voila! No more stupid noise. If anyone needs help doing the bearing replacement, I will be glad to help. KEY: remove and install the tensioner by keeping the adjustment bolt attached and almost all the way out (meaning the tensioner is at the end of the adjustment bolt). I had to play frickin' PuzzleFighter with the thing before I figured that one out.

Proud owner of a '95. Johnny Tran says the '95 VTEC just kicked in, yo.


RICE: AEM Short Ram, CI 55mm Throttle Body, GS-T Muffler, Self-Made Ground Wire Kit, Caulk, Duct Tape,
and "Stage 1 Weight Reduction" aka screws and bolts always left over from working on car.

you probably overtensioned it that's what it sounds like, well it kinda sounds like you have a turbo but you don't.

there was a part number for the bearing to replace the bearing in the pulley which I did from mcmaster car I don't remember the number though its in the archives somewhere.

http://www.hadesomega.info -car specz and movies 95 Eclipse RS | 76' 280Z | 89' MR2 | 99 Neon | 91 Zephyr
Who sez FF can't drift?