ChoppaSam

I have been trying to figure this out, and honestly its driving me crazy.....i changed the drive belt idler and the chirping went away during idle but when i accelerate it chirps loudly and iam not sure what the problem is.....i isolated the sound and its coming from the middle of the engine where the idler and the water pump pulley are located so if the idler is brand new and it still chirps what can be the problem.....the harmonic balancer does not wobble all the other pulleys seem to be fine no binding or noises of any kind when i free spin them....the only other suspicion i have is that the water pump pulley has a slight play in it but its soo slight that iam not sure if thats the problem, are all the waterpumps supposed tto have this slight play in them?? and the waterpump has nooo leak or nothing of the sort.....Please the help will be greatly appreciated , this noise is driving me crazy and makes me not want to drive the car.....oooo n by the way the a/c belt and components are not connected soo that cant be the causse.....thanks again guys

JW Motorsports

I can't answer the water pump questions as I have no clue, but mine did this and a new tensioner and idler pulley (I see you replaced it already) fixed it for me. Mine was on the A/C system though. My tensioner was peeling and tearing apart.

ChoppaSam

Yeah its driving me crazyy and iam embarrassed driving the car around like that....and iam hessitant to buy a new water pump because iam not sure if a slight play is normal for it...i wouldnt like to spend the money for the pump and still have the chirp.....the alternator , power steering pump all seem to spin just fine with no binding or noise so it couldnt be those components and the harmonic balancer has no wobble or anything, and the bet although not brand new its in good condition no cracks or tears.....PLEASE i need to fix this my car is my baby

Dominic Toretto

My did this a while back. It was time for the belts to be replaced on the car anyway, so I had all the pulleys and belts replaced. Haven't heard a chirp since, except from the tires occasionally. Oh and the service and parts cost me over $800, but given everything that was done, I was not at all disappointed by the cost.

-Alex

$$$frumnuttin'

I was gonna say the A/c belt, but saw that you already had it disconnected. Here's another idea which happened to me last summer, or this summer, whatever is grammatically correct. Car started doing the squealing belt syndrome out of nowhere; I was ready to switch out both belts and pulleys, when suddenly, after about 10 days, all was well again, and has been ever since. Apparently, I drove through some sort of construction material, like a puddle of cement or some other crap on the road, that coated the belts and needed to work itself off the surfaces before the squeal went away. This is probably rare, but I was shocked when it straightened out on its own.

av8rdavid

Change your main serpentine belt! I had the same anoying squeek, changed belt to a new gates and GONE...

Priorities

Back in the "old days" tooth paste would break the glaze on things, not to mention the mint-tee fresh smell from under the hood

El original

It is most probable one of the driven components, mine did the same and it was the water pump. If you are lazy, just keep driving it and eventually the problem component will pile up and answer your question. In my guess water pump and mine NEVER did leak, even after the pulley almost fell off with no bearings left. Good luck, Rob

PierEagle

Had the squeal on my '98 and SIL had it on his '00. Would quit after engine warmed up. Replaced all belts with Goodyear Gatorbacks. Haven't had the squeal in over two years. Might give it a try.

ChoppaSam

the water pump is my only other suspicion...but i wouldnt like to spend 150 on a new water pump and still have the annoying sound.....is there anyway to tell if the water pump pulley is bad.....i want to isolate the problem to its root i dont want to be guessing changing parts and ending up spending lots of $$$$ Iam kind of on a budget:

RLYSLO

haven't had a problem with mine since installing the goodyear gatorback's as well. Got them from autozone.

DeeGee

Sounds like you already did some good troubleshooting. Heres an old post which may help.

You can probably reduce or even fix belt squeals with lubrication or belt dressing but it will probably return quickly. A belt change is the easy fix but you need to make sure that’s the issue.

ET who was one of the C5 design engineers posted a great summary of the system and I’ve copied it below. Run through that procedure to identify where the problem lies. If it’s a belt that’s good news and is fairly straight forward once you work out the technique.

Let the engine cool down first or it gets painful. Identify the main belt tensioner from the picture. It’s the top pulley on passenger side. Place a socket wrench on the tensioner nut and push it toward the middle of the engine until there is enough slack to remove the belt. Repeat this procedure for the A/C belt, although the tensioner is a little harder to reach because it is under the power steering fluid reservoir.

Once you have them off its worth cleaning the pulley with a wire brush.

Putting them back is the reverse process but make sure you install the A/C belt before the main belt.

Here’s a pic to identify the components.



Belt Squeal Courtesy 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.

ChoppaSam

alll fixxed.....i put a new belt and the noise is gone......thanks for the input guys

jedblanks

It might come back.

If it does, then you should check your two tensioners. Not the pulleys themselves, but the tensioners. When they wear, they start to twist, causing the pulley and the belt to not align correctly. When the belt runs slightly sideways on the pulley, it causes the squeal.

It is usually the AC tensioner.

dbaker

IMO,unless the belt is wornout or loose,It is probably oily/dirty.

I clean mine by putting some powder cleanser on them and fire it up.The dry powder will usually clean off the grease and it'll be fine until it's dirty again.

\db2
carolina

madmatt9471

Glad you got it fixed - mine was the AC tensioner and I replaced the idler since I was down there anyway thumbs:

Get a spare belt and keep it in the trunk/back hatch pocket area's

Thanks,Matt

Thanks,Matt

b18c1950

i have the same dam problem

here is what a replaced so far
1. belts on the 3rd one now (including gatorback)
2. idler pulley
3. driver belt tensioner
4. Water pump (yep even that)
5. Crank Pulley

Replaced ac belt.
Drove without ac belt noise still there
Is there anything left???

Alternator pulley?

Someone please shoot me

Im seriously thinking about putting it up for sale.

RLYSLO

You're going to sell your car because of a squeak?

Harmonic Balancer perhaps? The diagram earlier in the thread should show you what else is left.

Why did you change out all the other parts? Just to throw parts at it, or were there problems with each of those things?

b18c1950

trust me bro it sounds stupid but you have no idea how annoying it is. Its constant when car is warmed up

harmonic balancer is the crank pulley btw

everyone's squeak noise is different some lucky ones only have to replace the belt or at worse the belt tensioner but mine didnt stop with those things

any one else please?

LisaJohn

I know what you mean. The squeal is very annoying. Mine was extra loud Saturday. My son said he heard it from a distance and thought I had a dozen screaming cats under the hood. When we checked under the hood the belt was halfway off. We are planning to replace the tensioner's and idler pulley's first.