Serpentine Belt

[dranger21]

Well my truck started squealing bad about a month ago so I replaced the serpentine belt. Noise stopped, problem solved. Now the belt seems to be frayed on one edge and screaming like hell again. I dont see anything on any of the pulleys that would make it fray right now but its dark. It was a dayco belt i got at advance auto so i dont know if its just junk or whats going on. Any suggestions?

 

[rurouni20xx]

start the engine and watch the pulleys and see if there is a wobble in one of them, if there is in one of them (alternator, a/c clutch/ tensioner/ harmonic balancer) change it, new belt and check again. if its a wobble issue you caught it at a good time because that usually means the bearings in whatever component are going out and your catching it b4 it fails, which of course would leave you stranded.

 

[fleck]

Grab the belt and pull on it from the top driver side and if the tensioner doesn't move then the tensioner is locked and you need a new tensioner. I got the much recommended Gatorback belt when I did mine. Solid. And my $60 tensioner from AutoZone is a US made part with metal pulley.

 

[shadetree]

What normally happens is the tensioner bearing goes bad and allows the pulley to tilt due to the bearing wear. The belt will then have more pressure on the edge.

If is dry of grease, that is the squealing you hear. Serpentine belts don't normally slip causing a squeal. They do however squeak from time to time as the rubber passes over metal.

Check your belt tensioner, and idler pulley if it has one. Some have both.shady

 

[Wicked_Sludge]

i always reccomend to replace the tensioner and belt at the same time. it avoids a lot of problems.

 

[Hypnotic Toast]

Follow all of the above advice. I'd replace the Idler and Tensioner pulley, if not the whole Tensioner assembly.

Don't even get me started on a squealing engine...

 

[Beef52751]

ive replaced my tensioner, belt and idler and mine still squeals bad.
Beef

 

[rurouni20xx]

belt dressing anyone? lol...if the rest of the pulleys arent pulling on it funny, i have no other ideas on beefs, anyone else?

 

[Hypnotic Toast]

ive replaced my tensioner, belt and idler and mine still squeals bad.
Beef

Did you replace the Tensioner pulley or the entire Tensioner assembly? I replaced my pulley but it still squealed because the actual assembly had been bent/worn.

 

[fleck]

Always replace the full assembly. I was confused about that at first too.

As far as belts... GATORBACK. If it squeels, run it and spray WD40 a foot from the belt.

 

[dranger21]

belt dressing anyone? lol...if the rest of the pulleys arent pulling on it funny, i have no other ideas on beefs, anyone else?

Well the last time I tried belt dressing on a serpentine belt it made it worse and I was told not to do that. I think ill avoid that option

 

[Wicked_Sludge]

good call.

spraying anything on the belt is nothing more than a temporary fix anyway. if you can run a dry belt then something is amiss.

 

[Beef52751]

I replaced the whole assembly...and i too stay away from belt dressing, it always seems to make the problem worse for me.
Beef

 

[Rat City Ranger]

Good adivce on this thread! I was gonna do the belt on my 01, and after reading, decided to pick up the tensioner assy too. Figured it can't hurt even if the tensioner wasn't the cause of my squeaking.

 

[fleck]

spraying anything on the belt is nothing more than a temporary fix anyway. if you can run a dry belt then something is amiss.

nah i've had a few treatments of WD40 fix the problem permanently. we think there was just a little bit of rust on the pulleys causing the belt squeeling on my old golf. i guess it all depends on the problem, not saying it's a fix for everything, but it's a possibility...