My drive belts are squealing like a pig and it's driving me nuts. I have sprayed it w/ belt conditioner but it only suceeded in changing the pitch of the squeal. The squealing only comes on during winter season.

My next step is to change both alternator & AC drive belts to hopefully rid of this annoying squeal once and for all. The instructions on the service manual sounds really easy. My fear is that it's easier said than done.

Is it really easy to change the drive belts on our car? Any advice for a novice like me before I screw it up? Do I really need a belt tension gauge or can I get by w/ just using my fingers as a gauge?

Thank you for your feedback.

 

I havent looked at my drive belts yet, but if there are more than one remove one belt and see if the noise stops,,

You may be loosing a bearing in your alternator, power steering pump or belt tensioner.. etc.

If **everything** is clear you can start your car with one belt or no belts, it wont hurt anything.

If the squeek stops WITH THE CAR OFF try turning the alternator pulley, air conditioner pulley and the belt tensioner one at a time with your hand to see if they may be making the noise. You wont be able to turn the power steering pulley fast enough to check for noise.

THe alternator and belt tensioner pulleys are the most common to loose bearings and cause a squeeking noise..

If you try anything with your hands with the engine running the next squeeking noise you hear, may be you..

 

Try making belts (chalk) and listen to the frequency of the sound. If it is in-sync with the belt mark - it's a belt. You could also make tube out of paper and move it along rotating devices and try to determine the source of the noise. Obviously if that doesn't help, you'll have to remove belts.

 

are you under warranty?

 

I guess that should have been the 1st question.. hahaha

 

My car is a 2003 and over 60K miles. I think its out of warranty.

The funny thing is that the belt squealing only comes on during the winter season - this is the 2nd winter that the belts squealed. When the weather gets warm, no squealing.

I rally hope its just the belt and nothing more serious like the bearings going bad.

 

Well, if its the second winter, its probably not the bearings. Cold makes the material stiffer so they may be more likely to be noisy. I like JerryD's chalk idea, or the paper stethoscope, if you keep your parts out of the engine parts (and your clothes too).

 

If those belts are still good, and with 60k on them, they could just need adjustment......easy to do, and cheap.
Check it out.
C.

 

try run n ing a wire brush on the underside of the belts with the engine running being creful not to take a finger off. Lot of times u get rust on the belts from the pulleys themselves. This might be the problem if not change belts.

 

My plan is to change both belts - $30 worth in parts. The only thing is i'm a little scared of the procedure since i've never done it before. As i mentioned before, the instructions looks easy enough but you never know. Also, is a belt tension gauge a must? or can I get by w/ the "finger feely" method?

 

OK, finally got the drive belts replaced. I ended up taking it to a local shop and replaced the stock belts w/ Goodyear gatorback V-belts. I could'nt loosen the damn idler pulley lock-nut so I gave up trying to do it on my own.

One thing that the technician pointed out to me was that the alternator pulley had the slightest faint squeal when he was turning it by hand. He thinks that the bearing maybe going bad.
My question is, does the whole alternator need to be replaced? or can I just replace the bad bearing?

 

Yes, you can replace just the bearing.. the alternator has to be disassembled to do that. While your there you should replace the brushes and bushings too.

Might check prices it may be cheaper that way if you can find a company that does that..

 

Someone asked if he's car is under warranty. I have a 2003 w/ 26k. Are these belts covered under warranty? One of mine is developing cracks

 

Bumper to bumper. Go see your dealer.

 

Looks like you're still under warranty. Use it while you can.