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Posted

Revisiting a topic I've posted about before.

 

I've been trying to get rid of a chirping sound related to my belts for quite a while. I have A/C and Power Steering on a 1987 2.5L. Pretty sure I've ruled out a lot of the possible culprits. I have the correct brackets and I've used spacers to get all the pulleys into slightly better alignment.

But I still haven't been able to completely solve the issue. Currently, I have my belt a bit tighter than factory spec. It's sitting between 160-180. The result is that the belt will chirp a bit when the engine is cold, but then it will go away after running for about 5 mins.

 

But I'm worried that I'm putting strain on my components by running the belt that tight. So...

 

  1. Is it OK to run my belt that tight long term? I know that the FSM says 140-160, but maybe there is some collective wisdom out there that going over 160 is fine?
  2. What about these Gatorbacked/Helicog belts? I've heard these can do wonders. But from my research, it seems like the only way to get these now is as NOS and I'm having trouble tracking one down at the moment.
  3. I still haven't ruled out that I need to source the correct pulley wheel. I'm running a pulley wheel off of a 4.0 (5300 2909). The pulley wheel that I'm supposed to have is 5300 3805, but I have not been able to find one of those.

 

 

Posted

Squeaky serpentine belts are almost always a bad bearing somewhere. Sometimes they are loose but that doesn't sound like a problem here. I recommend getting a mechanics stethoscope or using a screwdriver with the handle pressed against your ear and listening to all the bearings when the squeak can be heard. Also does the sounds change when the AC is on vs off?

Posted

The last squeaky serpentine belt that I successfully quieted I did so by:

 

- took the belt off and scrubbed it clean in the sink with dove soap, rinsed well and completely dried it.

- cleaned all the things the belt touches with dove soap and a toothbrush.

 

Reassembled and the squeak was no longer there.

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