Belt Squeal
Belt Squeal Hi all, this happens to be my first post and it is unfortunately filled with stress. I bought my first T/A last month, a 99 A4 with 126xxx miles. Last week I changed out the main serpentine belt because the car would squeal for about 5-10 minutes every so often and the old belt was worn so I assumed that was the problem. The squeal is back and now worse. It doesn't go away like it used to and the squeal gets louder as my RPMs go up. After searching for hours and pretty much finding bad pulley threads I took my new belt off and played with the pulleys and none of them squealed AND I started the car with the belt off to make sure it wasn't the AC belt/pulleys. I turned my attention to the belt itself and shot some WD40 on it, using the idler pulley to coat it while the car was running to lube it all around. The squeal is gone but can just a belt really make that bad of a sound? It is a Duralast 790K6 that I bought from autozone for about 20 bucks. I'll keep playing with the pulleys/belt for a few more days but is there a better recommended belt for our LS1s?
Took some videos to maybe help diagnose this issue:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOm-BNPdjRE
- the horrible noise that is occurring
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-F4VHfaLYk
- the noise goes away from shooting the belt with WD40 for just a second, and I used a thorough coat of the stuff on both sides after the video.
Took some videos to maybe help diagnose this issue:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOm-BNPdjRE
- the horrible noise that is occurring
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-F4VHfaLYk
- the noise goes away from shooting the belt with WD40 for just a second, and I used a thorough coat of the stuff on both sides after the video.
Yeah, I'm really hoping its not a pulley but if I put just a little WD40 on the belt while the car is running the noise goes away. I just can't believe that the belt is causing that much noise.
Trending Topics
My car was doing the same thing, I replaced the tensioner pulley, idler pulley and new belt and it would still do it...Finally I decided to get a gatorback belt and it fixed my problem.
LS1 Tech Stories
The Best V8 Stories One Small Block at Time
6 Common C5 Corvette Failures and What's Involved In Repairing Them
Pouria Savadkouei
Retro Modern Bandit Pontiac Trans AM Comes With Burt Reynolds' Autograph
Verdad Gallardo
Top 10 Greatest Cadillac V Series Performance Models Ever, Ranked
Pouria Savadkouei
Top 10 Most Powerful Chevy Trucks Ever Made!
Hennessey's New Supercharged Silverado ZR2 Has 700 HP
Verdad Gallardo
Coachbuilt N2A Anteros Is an LS2-Powered C6 Corvette In Italian Clothes
Verdad Gallardo
Awesome K5 Blazer Restomod Comes With C7 Corvette Power
Verdad Gallardo
10 Camaros You Should Never Buy
10 LS Engine Myths That Refuse to Die
Verdad Gallardo
+1 for gator backs. belts are something you shouldnt cheap out on. not just with gm cars either. I work at a honda dealer and we get cars in all the time with aftermarket belts making noise (midas timing belt services, they use the cheap stuff)
The only reason I threw out water pump is because I was talking to one of the guys at my advanced auto and he has owned 3 ls1 trans ams and they all had a squeaky water pump for 5-10 mins every time he started his car. I'm gonna change the idler pulley tomorrow and see if that fixes it.
On The Tree
Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 160
Likes: 0
If you want to be a little more precise on where that squeal is coming from you might want to invest 10 bucks into an automotive stethoscope from your local auto parts store. I bought one to find a squeal on my motor and found it to be the lower idle pulley on the AC belt.
TECH Apprentice
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 345
Likes: 1
From: TX
You could try this, cost is zero if you already have grease, just takes a little time to do all 4 as long as you're in there:
https://ls1tech.com/forums/general-m...r-pulleys.html
https://ls1tech.com/forums/general-m...r-pulleys.html
You could try this, cost is zero if you already have grease, just takes a little time to do all 4 as long as you're in there:
https://ls1tech.com/forums/general-m...r-pulleys.html
https://ls1tech.com/forums/general-m...r-pulleys.html
I would definitely take a close look at the ac tensioner when I worked at the dealer we replaced a ton of these. I would also look at the compressor try turning the ac on and off while the noise is happening and see if it make a difference. +1 for the gatorbacks cause I also worked at the parts store and we got a lot of complaints about our store brand belts squealing even the better one like the duralast but never had a complaint bout the gatorbacks other than the price.
