Serpentine belt SQUEAK!

[bottomline89]

-new power steering pump pulley after the last one snapped and my fan cut my belt.

now it sqeaks!

i've put a new water pump in, new idler pulley, checked all the bearings twice and i went with the higher quality serpentine belt

the only thing out of the ordinary is that the belt rides further back on the fan pulley (also an idler pulley) and further forward on the water pump (towards the rad) I can also get it to stop by spraying it with belt conditioner but it comes back by the end of the day.

ANY SUGGESTIONS?

[banshee]

same thing last month tried everything tight loose, whatever i did it squeeked

finally after several deep miudholes and several days wheeling it just sort of quit

i know this didn't help but they told me at the partsstore sometimes the new belts

have oil on them and it has to burn off

[Garvin]

It sounds like a pulley or two might be a little off. Belts usually squeak when they're getting old or something is off where there is side load on the ribs on the belt.

 

I've been working for about 7 or 8 years in the automotive field (a year at a parts store and the rest as a mechanic) and have never seen a new belt squeal because of oil added to it from the factory. I've been through god knows how many belts on my own vehicles and never had a new one that was properly aligned squeal on me. I think the parts store guy was giving you the run around on that one.

[ParadiseMJ]

If you pulled and replaced your P/S pump pulley, did you get it back on the same. My 88 and my 90 had slightly different pulley shafts, one was flush, one was recessed. I only recognized that because I did both in the same day.

 

Check to see if your hamonic balancer is flush and the rubber ring is in good shape. Just a quarter inch in or out can cause belt problems, possibly wear a hole in your timing chain cover and/or make it impossible to align all the pulleys. If so you'll shred belts until it ultimatley fails altogether.

 

If your fan tweaked enough, it's also possible that your motor mounts are weak & spongy and allowed enough movement to move and slice the belt.

 

Use a straitedge, take line up your pulleys. If your harmonic balancer looks like this (not the rust, the alignment) it's toast.