I'm replacing the belts in my '01 ZO6. I cannot for the life of me find a belt diagram for this car anywhere! Does someone have a link or pics for this job? Any advise before I get going??

 

Should be on the inner frnder

 

Did you try your owner's manual? Page 6-76 in the 2000 manual. You can get a pdf manual for free if you do some web searching. mygmlink.com has them, I know...

 

 

Got the belt replaced....damn it was worn!! One problem: I got about half way down the street and it started chirping louder than ever. I figured it may be because the belt could have possilbly gotten a little wet(took radiator hose off) during installation. What do you guys think?

 

Depending on mileage, etc., look at the tensioner(s). Mine went at 73k, took the belt right off. Didn't actually break, but it started leaning out at the top, enough to foul up the belt alignment.

I don't think just water would make a lot of noise, but Dexcool? Hard to say. A mechanic I knew used to spray belts with WD-40 to see if that quieted them down. I'm not sure about the serpentine belts, though.

Good luck with it. Also, look in your manual for the belt wear indicators. There are marks on the tensioner that will help you determine if the belt is stretched. Other wear shows as full-width cracks on the ribbed side of the belt, or any odd wear on the smooth side. Things like the point where the ends are joined becoming visible and frayed.

Did you do the A/C belt while you had it off? That little jerk hides behind the main belt, so you have to remove the main one to get to the much smaller (4 rib) A/C belt.

 

Well, 5 hours later, it's certainly not water that's making the belt squeal still. This is ridiculous. I guess it's a pulley. I don't even know how to check it. If it's not one thing it's another. Any suggestions?

 

Hi. Do you have a mechanic's stethoscope? Another cheap tool that's useful. As an even cheaper alternative, get a piece of vacuum hose (probably 1/4 inch), put an ear plug in one ear, and hold an end of the tube to the other ear. Then move the other end of the tube around to see where the noise is the loudest. That will help focus your attention on the right area, rather than the whole belt run.

An easy thing to check is the pulley on the tensioner. You can try shooting it with WD-40 or another oil/teflon type item to see if that helps. There are two pulleys, one on the tensioner and one on the idler, that do not involve driving a component. The squeal would be from something misaligned, or a bearing or bushing going out. My bet would be on the tensioner, since I just lost one, but that's based on paranoia. They seem to usually be good for something past 100k miles. If you need one, Napa has replacements for about $80, and the specialty shops (I use West Coast Corvettes, but mostly because they're close) have the genuine GM. Fred Beans advertises on this forum, and it's good to support sponsors. About the same price range as the Napa/Gates service units.

Otherwise, if it's the other pulley (lower driver side of engine), same deal - just buy a new one and bolt it in. Other component failures will be more expensive.

So - make sure the belt is correct - six grooves, proper length. Look for NBH25060798 as the Napa part number on www.napaonline.com to get the specs. That reads as about 80 inches 2040 mm) long, six ribs. Width is .807 inch (20mm).

If you've got the right belt, try the hose as a stethoscope to isolate the area of the noise, and just start looking for things that ain't right. If the tensioner is at all out of spec, replace it. Particularly if you've got some miles on the car. My theory is that, with the quick rev up/down on these cars, the tensioners get a lot of stress, and fail faster than they would on a Buick wagon.

 

Thanks for the great advise. I'm gonna do some checks and try to get this problem solved. After doing a quick sound check, I think it's either the tension or the pulley...which one I don't know! I'll try the WD-40. It may just need to be replaced. Thanks again for the help.

 

If you find the tensioner or pulley quiets down with a little lube, I'd replace it. Lubrication in this form is temporary - the parts are relatively cheap (at least the Napa versions don't seem subject to the Vette Tax - they're about the same price as for the Taurus my son used to drive), and if they fail away from home, it gets pricey to get towed...

If you've had a belt fail and come off (either break or slip), the tensioner for that belt may well have taken a little damage. They don't seem to like being slammed around. They're durable, but if they weren't service items, Napa and Kragen/Schucks/Checker and all that wouldn't stock 'em.

 

BowTie....tried some lubrication on the pulleys, but to no avail. Looks like it's time to do some replacing Are those things hard to get off?

 

To save yourself future headaches, replace both the tensioners & the idler pulleys while you're at it - 2 tensioners & 2 idler pulleys.

They aren't that expensive.

I replaced my belts & tensioners at 58K & now I have to go back and do the idler pulleys.

 

The upper one is a piece of cake. I'm not home, so can't look up the torque setting, but it was in the 27-28 ft-lb range. Two bolts, on and off.

The lower is harder to reach, but that's the main thing. You can get the Goodyear version at Kragen/Schucks/Checker or probably AutoZone. You can get the Gates version through Napa. You can get Genuine GM from one of the sponsors, if your Chevy dealer won't give a deal, or from someone like West Coast Corvettes.

 

Wire brush the grooves in your pulleys too; all the way around. Important.

 

That's where I'm at right now...58000 miles. Doing it all is a good idea just to get any future headaches out of the way. I just wish I was smart enough to do it when I replaced the belts last week!!

 

Just went through what you are going through right now.. Fred Beans and GM Parts Direct have the best prices on the pulleys... Goodyear Gatorback Belts are awesome too.. I tried the Stethoscope method.. Could not tell where the squealing was coming from... Take the Drive belt off first and if the noise stops you know that its a drive belt pulley.. If it does not stop then its the A/C tensioner pulley or A/C idler pulley. I replaced them all.. The Bearings were bone dry when I pryed the Bearing covers off. 15mm socket and a small extension is all you need.. You will have to spread apart the 2 A/C lines in front of the A/C idler pulley with a piece of wood or whatever you can find that will keep the lines about 4 inches apart, so that you get the socket in and work it... Not a tough job at all.. Cold weather brings out the squeaks on the belts and pulleys on our cars.. Some folks have had success on repacking the bearings with grease also.. I tried this on one pulley and had thought everything was fine... For about a week... Squealing came back... FYI... Tensioner pulley and idler pulley on A/C side are the same...

 

I was having the same problem, even after i got a new belt. So i then decided to change both idler and tensioner pulleys, and the air condition belt. It turned out that the pulleys seemed to squeal, due to a lack of grease. If you have a few miles on your car, then it would be recomended to change the pulleys. Mine don't squeal anymore. Hope this helps.

 

I just finished replacing mine. I changed the idler pulley, Tensioner pulley, AC tensioner?pulley and both belts. I couldnt find the AC idler pulley at NAPA, auto zone, or checker so I took it off and cleaned it up real good and put a lite coat of bearing grease one it. I started the car and got on the gas a bunch. The squeak is gone. Hopefully it stays gone.

This only took an hour. I was kind of bummed. I like wrenching. Guess I will have to go back to restoring my old truck.

 

I've read a lot of positive regarding Fred Beans - if I didn't know the owner of the local dealership, I'd probably check them out. Good to have well-regarded parts sources.

On the A/C, there are two pulleys, at least on my '99. They are one above the other, between the crankshaft and A/C compressor. The upper one is fixed - it's the idler. The lower one is on the spring, thus is the tensioner. The tensioner arms wear over time, so I'd change the arm rather than just the pulley. On the Taurus, changing the pulley was an option, but I didn't want to put a new pulley on a 100k+ mile pivot/spring, so did the whole thing. Same on the Vette - just easier to have done with it than to wait for another failure.

The illustration above shows the A/C arrangement well. Look at the lower of the center pulleys and you'll see the tensioner mechanism.