First off let me apologize, I know this has been talked about several times on here, but I jst got to the office, and don't have time to search for it right now...just taking a few seconds to get some advice.

For the past couple days, I have had what I thought was a belt squeel, very faint when I first started the car in the morning, then went away after I drove about a mile. Last night leaving the office, it was a little worse, and did not go away at all, and it gets even worse when I turn on the A/C. This morning coming to the office was the same...and forget about turning on the A/C

I will venture out during lunch to pick up some new belts I guess...gatorbacks? If the belts don't work, any suggestions what it might be beyond that (I would presume pulleys).

Any little tips or tricks to try before buying and installing new belts to tell if it is belts or pulleys? I should have a quick second to check this for ideas before I run out for lunch.

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

I just had to replace my AC tensioner it did the same thing as yours plus I went ahead and replaced the Idler pulley on the AC sysytem too!

Thanks,Matt

 

Mine was the A/C compressor clutch pulley..... that is a much more expensive fix.... new/rebuilt compressor and 3-4 hours of shop time....

 

Here's E-T's write up on how to troubleshoot a belt squeal:

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

And this may help too:

 

how the frig do you get to the little AC belt? Is there a way to do it without having to take the whole dang car apart?

 

It is tight... but I have replaced the belt from the top of the car. Getting the old one off is no problem. Getting the new one on I had to get the belt on balancer and idler pulleys and then bump the engine to get it completely onto the compressor pulley.

 

I replaced the tensioner through the bottom of the car, I got the idler pulley out the top, I also pulled the belt of the bottom of the balancer from underneath the car then pulled it out from the top.

 

I give up my arms are too dang big (you have to have the arms of a 10 year old and the dexterity of plastic man to do stuff like that)...and I don't like to get to close to my car with tools for too long, bad things usually wind up happening...plus it started to rain and is dark (no garage)

Called my buddy that works at the stealership, said if I buy pizza and a couple pitchers for dinner tomorrow, he will put it on the lift and put it on for me at lunch. I think I can handle that.