My main belt squeals until it warms up to 190 F. I have a changed a new belt and the same thing. Any Ideas, other than letting it warm up?

 

I had the same problem. Thanks to this great forum I went out and bought the goodyear gator back belt. No more squeaks.

 

apply a bar of soap (like Ivory) to the belt or they sell belt dressing in a can at the local car shops.

 

a new belt should not do that!!! maybe the tensioner or another accesory is the culprit. or maybe its the little a/c belt doing it.

 

Did the same!

 

 

My A/C tensioner is the culprit! I used a stethescope on it to here that it is the tensioner and now will have to replace it!

Shouldn't be a big job!

Thanks,Matt

 

Belt ...



IMO - Band Aid fix.......likely an idler/tensioner or some other spinning bearing the belt is running will be the culprit.

 

I had a similar problem. Did all the troubleshooting everyone mentioned. It stilled squeaked. Turned out that the water pump was leaking and getting antifreeze on the belts making it squeak. I replaced water pump and all is well now.

 

Thanks for the reply's ! What gets me is, when it heats up to 190+ F; All is good. Any ideas as to why heat cures the problem ? I understand thermal dynamics ( Heat Expansion ), but I am still confused, as is my technician...

I have been using a FOOD GRADE lubricant on the large belt and the A/C belt is not the problem, Food Grade lubricant is not the answer..just a temp fix...

Thanks for your reply's....

Daneaux

 

If a new belt didn't cure the squeal, then look at the other parts mentioned above.

 

Good call, something is not right...keep looking until you get to the bottom of it.

 

My attempts - Replace with Gatorback belt $25 wasted. Problem came back almost instantly.

Then I buckled and took to dealer - Fortunately, mine was under GMPP - $50

Replaced main and a/c idlers + new belt -----> Lasted 3 days

Replaced Water Pump + new belt-----------> Lasted 2 days

Replaced Power Steering pump + new belt --> Lasted 1 hour!

Replaced Harmonic Balancer + new belt -----> 6 months and still running fine. (on AC Delco belt) No squeals, squeaks, or chirping.

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Here's everything you need to know:

Belt Squeal Courtesy of E-T

You have two belt systems on your car. One is the drive belt system, the other is the air conditioner belt system. The drive belt system consists of the serpentine belt, the power steering pump, alternator/gen, water pump, harmonic balancer, idler pulley, belt auto-tensioner pulley. The AC belt system consists of the compressor, harmonic balancer, idler pulley, belt auto-tensioner pulley.

First thing you need to do is isolate which system is squeaking. This can be done by releasing tension on the drive belt tensioner and removing the serpentine belt. This is the outboard belt of the two belt systems. If the squeak goes away, then it’s the belt or a component of the drive system.

If the squeak is still there, then it’s a component of the ac belt system.
To verify this, release the belt tension from the tensioner and remove the belt. If the squeak goes away, then it’s a component of the ac belt system.

A common problem is the belt tensioner on either system but verifying which system is at fault is the proper procedure.

You could replace both belts, but you may still have the squeak. If you want to find the culprit, isolate the system, then spray the belt of the offending system and see if the squeak goes away. Try to stay away from the idler and tensioner while spraying. I find that belt dressing may be good to identify a belt problem, but it is a temporary fix at best.

The real problem has been the tensioner and the idler. Both of these components have a sealed bearing which has been know to dry up or redirect the grease away from the bearing, thus causing the squeak.

If you find that a belt change does not correct the problem, then a change of both the idler and tensioner pulley is in order. If you just change the idler or the tensioner alone, it will cause the other component to go bad in a month or so. This has been the case with many members. There was a change made to the dusts seals to help correct this problem in newer C5's. Lots of tensioner and idler pulleys have been identified as a problem and it can affect either system. One is not more prevalent than the other. So find out which system is squeaking first, in the drive belt system. It could also be the bearing of the alternator, power steering pump, or water pump too, but these are less probable.

I hope this makes things a little clearer

 

This happened to me. You probably just didnt buy a good belt? My problem seized when I changed the belt.

 

I'm having the same problem. We got snow here so I wanted to get the salt off the car. I ran it through a brushless car wash just to clean that junk off came out and it was screaming. At first I thought the belts had gotten wet.... would dry in a bit and everything would be fine but it never went away. Got some belt dressing...still didn't help.
Had the belts changed that day...nope nothing still didn't help.
Took it to the dealer the said it was one of the lower pully's so they changed it... it shut up for 2 hours came back. Now I have to take it back on monday for them to look at it. I'm not happy I paid to have one replaced and it still didn't fix the problem.

 

DONT PAY FOR A PROBLEM THEY NEVER FIXED IN THE FIRST PLACE...SECOND TRIP FREE

The big dog

 

Thanks ..why is it I know I'm going to have a fist fight on my hands!