I have already replaced the serpentine tensioner and the A/C tensioner and idler pulleys on my 2K. After I parked the car outside overnight, the squeal came back, it's very humid in San Antonio. Any hints or suggestions beside the obvious "keep the car in the garage" (my 1984 is in there for some extensive work)? Is this a sign of something worse?

Thanks, Mike

 

Ok, this definitely isn't a weather problem as it has gotten much worse and it looks like I'm going under the car again, since it's the a/c tensioner or idler.

Q: Are there any ideas that you all know of? The tensioner isn't really adjustable - you just wrassle it in and bolt it on. And it's the second one in less than six months and fewer than 500 miles.

thanks, Mike

 

I had this same problem for a couple years. I would replace the serpentine pully and belts and it would go away and come back after a short while..
They must have replaced my belt and serpentine pully 6-7 times.
I mean I went throught the TSB and everything. Nothing would make it go away.. It went back to the shop at least 10 times for this issue then they finally started trying to tell me that it was normal.
I gave up losing my car for weeks at a time and decided to live with it.

A year later i took it to the same dealership for a final time and must have got the smartest tech back there. He removed the sepentine belt and said the problem persisted.
He found that my AC pully was about 1 1/2 inches out of line.
He removed and replaced it and the probelm as never returned. It has been over a year now and no sqeeks what so ever...
This might be something to look at.

Good luck...

Kid

 

Hmmm?? OK, the actual A/C pulley, not the tensioner? I will have them check that when I get my tensioner replaced. (I have isolated my squeak to the tensioner with a mechanics stethoscope- you know, a cut piece of water hose...)

 

Thanks, guys, yes; this is the a/c belts tensioners and idlers. Maybe this time I will isolate which one with that fancy thingamijig rather than replace both and save some trouble. Stay tuned.....

 

Yeah, that fancy thing comes in handy (I got the idea from the forum!!) Just be careful when you have that hose down there and the engine is running, it would really not be pretty to get that hose caught in one of those belts!!! Good luck!!!

 

Talk about your car beeyatch-slapping you..."What the #$%& do you think you are doing? Get your hands off of me!"

Boy for a performance car, there doesn't seem to be a lot of performance tolerances. Practically got laughed off the lot at the autocross with a squeaky $40,000 car.

Stay tuned as I perform the delicate auditory forensic examination.....

Mike

 

From what I remember, he told me that the pulley being out of line caused the belt to be out of line causing it to rub at an angle thus causing the belt to eventually start to squeak.

I don't think it was the AC pulley making the noise but it being out of line caused the belt too squeak after time..

Kid

 

Forensics update:

As soon as posted the message I got a phone call and found myself on an airplane. Didn't get back until this weekend, and if you've watched the news, you know we are fighting a flood.

I pulled the car into the garage (my 1984 is the inside car for a bit) and popped off the a/c belt.

The outer edge of the a/c belt, facing towards the radiator shows signs of rubbing. The wear is along the inner edge, closest to the grooved surface of the pulleys.

So I put on a rumpled raincoat, mussed up my hair, squinted one eye shut and said to myself:

Now, why would only the inner edge of the belt show wear?
The serpentine belt is OK, and it's older; so maybe the harmonic balancer isn't an issue-- also if it WERE the balancer you see more wear along the entire edge of the belt, even BOTH belts, since the pulleys on the crank are deeper.

You know, it looks like it's either the a/c compressor or the a/c tensioner pulley, since both of them grooved right where the belt wear is located. The only part replaced recently is the a/c belt tensioner (I'm starting to see a pattern). Maybe she didn't go in all the way, or there's a misalignment from something else.

Thanks all, and stay tuned.

 

Forensics complete.

The next day the remaining belt started to squeal which really got under my skin.

The pulleys were OK. I went over to my favorite hotrod shop and had them sneak a peek at the car. Lifted the hood and the mechanic said shut the car off now.

It was the harmonic balancer failing. Believe me that my harmonics were NOT balanced as I called GM Service.

The dealership "goodwilled" the repair. I should feel better, but in some ways I don't. This is America's Sports Car, the peformance leader; and there are so many quality problems that we have to deal with. Hondas and Mazdas don't have all these problems. Maybe that gets solved with the LS2.

Anyways, looky at your crank pulley. If it wobbles, you have problems.

Another issue is that the pulley and tensioners are cast and not forged, which means that clearances and tolerances can change drastically. If you have a good balancer, and you've changed the tensioners, you may have to keep trying until you get parts close enough to original tolerances.

I'll pick up the car on Friday and add anything I feel relevant for the archives. Thanks to all who lent a hand.

Mike