Belt squeal

Nicu7

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I searched and found quite a few people having belt squeal problems, but most are on supercharged cars. My car has 29k miles, current mods are H/R cams, tune, exhaust, intake, gt500 TB, suspension blah blah blah. About a week after cam install my belt started squealing when shifting from first to second and third and when I get on it or rev the car up to around 3k when in first,second or third. I was thinking it was the belt rubbing the power steering pulley. I pressed the pulley as far as it would go. Is it not suppose press that far?
 

dysan

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The power steering pump should have a little play to it in and out. Did you put spray some water on the belt to test? Another thing that works also is some simple green.

Take the belt off, spray it down real well with brake clean as well as all of your pulleys. It's easily possible some oil dripped on the belt or a pulley when you did the work and is causing the issue.
 

Kalatrax

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If you do pull the belt off, wiggle all the pulleys to make sure none of them are loose and I suggest spinning all the pulleys that you can by hand to see if any of the bearings are going out and binding up. It's very low on miles for these issues but it doesn't hurt to check.
 

Nicu7

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Okay thanks guys. I'm off tomorrow and going to try these ideas. It's driving me nuts. Every time I get the engine reved up over 2k rpms now it starts doing it. It was only between shifts.
 

mr. anderson

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Here's a little knowledge for ya, since you have removed parts, sounds like something may be off:



the only real way to find misaligned pulleys is with a laser allignment tool. I purchased a dayco one from autozone.
 

TexasBlownV8

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If your pulleys are out of alignment, a new belt will 'solve' the squeak issue, for a little while. As mentioned, drip a little water on the belt when it's running: if the squeak stops for a little while until the water wears off, it's the belt...but your p/s pulley could be causing it to wear prematurely.
If the water-test does nothing, you probably have a pulley causing it.
 

SolarWar

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I've got the same issue on a new belt, squeals like a pig on shifts, when I get on it. Guess ill have to check into my pulleys as well....
 

Nicu7

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Should you be able to spin the idler pulleys by hand when the belts on? I was looking at my pulleys today and decided to turn and turn one. Both idler pulleys are really easy to turn, does this mean I might need a new tensioner?
 
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michael.konor

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Should you be able to spin the idler pulleys by hand when the belts on? I was looking at my pulleys today and decided to turn and turn one. Both idler pulleys are really easy to turn, does this mean I might need a new tensioner?

Could be the tensioner, the belt has stretched (more likely than tensioner), or the belt has been contaminated.

How old's your belt?
 

Nicu7

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It doesn't appear to squeal when I turn ac on, but right as I turn it off. It starts to squeal between shifts again. Sounds like tensioner to me.
 

Taxman

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Redneck solution... take some silicone adhesive and put a big dab on the ribs of the belt and start your car and let it run for a minute.

Squeak gone
mind blown
 

HitandRunDriver

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I've got a very similar issue only really at WOT, especially with the A/C on. I gunned it to get up to speed with traffic with the A/C on, got a squeal and then noticed a faint smell that reminded me of small kitchen appliances struggling under load like a blender or a mixer. I suspect my issue is a pulley bearing going bad.
 

Nicu7

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Cleaned all my pulleys really good with brake cleaner. Replaced belt and tensioner. Squealing is completely gone for now. I hope it stays that way. Thanks guys.
 

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