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Squeaky Serpentine belts....

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R6MGS

R6MGS

Yoda
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Whats your method for quieting a squeaky belt.....The truck started last week after driving through some big puddles, I tried belt dressing but the noise comes back after awhile, I was also told to put regular bar soap on it....That lasted a few days, but it was back this morning.....I put more soap on and it's quiet now.....But it'll be back, and one of my biggest automotive pet peeves is squeaky belts /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazyeyes.gif
Anyone got any other methods to make it stop....I'd hate to have to replace the belt every time it gets wet.
 
Is it adjusted properly? And are you sure its the right belt for the pully?
 
...Just tension it according to the "book."


...If that doesn't stop the squeal, replace the belt and tension it according to the "rules."
 
4.3L Sonoma engines are notorious for "tossing tensioners" - check it, then check to make sure the power steering pulley in in-line with all the other pulleys...once I got those things sorted out, I hit the belt with a spritz of belt quiet & have had no problems since....oh, I've got just over 380,000 miles on my Sonoma!
 
There is no tension adjustment for serpentine belts. You either have a bad belt or a bad tensioner. Or both.
 
Well the belt looks ok...But I am not very familiar with serpentine style belts....What do I look for? looked at the tensioner and it 'moves' ever so slightly, is this right?
 
BTW: How would I go about making sure the power steering pulley is in line with the rest? It's pretty tight down there.
 
Pretty much, if the belt is squealing, it's the belt or the tensioner. How old is the belt? if you look at it were the ribs are on the outside around a pully, are there cracks in the ribs, or is the flat side shiny or orange with rust.
Any of these indicate the belt is getting worn.
The tensioner will move if you yank on the belt, that's normal. usually they lose just enough tension to let the belt start squealing. So that's about the only indicator you'll have.
 
The ribs on the belt look fine, but i think i saw kind of a glazing, maybe some rust on the flat side. Also the outer edge of the belt in a few spots looks like it's just starting to frey....How difficult is it to replace one of these? It's rear wheel drive, so I got some access, but not much with the big cooling fan there.
 
All it takes is to get a breaker bar on the nut of the tensioner pully, or there may be a "bolt head" or a square hole that fits the breaker bar molded into the tensioner arm somewhere, and pry it back to slacken the belt. Then thread the old one off, and the new one on. It's a bit of a trick but not extremely hard. If there's no belt routing diagram under the hood, I'd higly reccomend drawing one out before removing the old belt.
 
Thanks, I should be able to handle that....and I think I saw a routing diagram sticker too.
 
Should be a fifteen minute routine, with the beer break in the middle!

...it is a bit easier with a second set of hands, BTW.
 
[ QUOTE ]
All it takes is to get a breaker bar on the nut of the tensioner pully, or there may be a "bolt head" or a square hole that fits the breaker bar molded into the tensioner arm somewhere, and pry it back to slacken the belt. Then thread the old one off, and the new one on. It's a bit of a trick but not extremely hard. If there's no belt routing diagram under the hood, I'd higly reccomend drawing one out before removing the old belt.

[/ QUOTE ]

You might want to look into replacing the pulley on the tensioner. My 1990 Olds Cutlass Cruiser S with 182k on the clock was making some awful squeaking and growling noises. I changed the tensioner, which did away with the squeak, and the water pump, which eliminated the growl.
 
"""""""".....The truck started last week after driving through some big puddles, """"""""

The tensioner pulley bearing or the idler bearing come to mind.




""""""I tried belt dressing but the noise comes back after awhile, """""""


but this indicates the belt is toast. fraying edges = replace. 60k miles might be a good number to replace.....100k and do the tensioner and idler both.

Tensioner should have a goodly pressure as there is a nice big spring in the round casting. If you can pull the tensioner back with your fingers it's bad.

Sometimes the fan shroud is an easy removal and really makes things easier.
 
Ok, I oiled the you know what outta the tensioner bearing and that helped alot, which one is the idler?...I will replace both and the belt soon, but insurance doesn't start on the truck until November first, so I don't wanna bring an uninsured vehicle to my mechanic...Right now I've only driven it around the neighbourhood to move a few things around.
 
You guys in Canada have some strange insurance regs..whatever day I buy a car, its automatically insured & I have 48 hours to notify my insurance company...anything that happens within that 48 hours is covered as if it were any other car on my policy!
 
Nope, standard policy for USAA!
 
No, I had to set it like that....When I got the truck I had to insure my son on it....Well that turned into a big deal becasue I have more cars than driver, blah,blah,blah...I ended up changing companies completely, and it's alot simpiler to change over on a new billin month than in the middle of a month....I could have had them insure it right away, but it would be messy, and I don't trust the people they got me talkin to on the phone. Even when I called back to confirm they accidentally put my son as principle driver of my Jag instead of the truck! I am not even gunna say what the cost of that would have been!
 
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