Unchainedl984

Hey, I've got a problem with something squeaking and Im hoping you guys can give me some advice. Theres this squeal/squeak I get about 2/3 minutes after I cold start my car, and it persists until its roughly warmed up to 150/160 degrees. It happened a little while after I bought the car, the alternator died a week after I bought the car and the dealer replaced it. It was squealing like crazy after that until I had him replace the belt, and it either go really quiet or stopped for awhile.

Well, it came back not long after and in the past 6 months I've replaced 2 Serpentine belts (1 of them about a week ago), and A/C belt, 2 A/C pulleys, and the serpentine belt tensioner. A week ago when I did the tensioner/belt the squeak stopped for a few days but now its back just as bad. My question is, could it be the water pump or the alternator? I dont know if one of those going bad would make that squeal, I'm hoping you guys could help me out on that. I dont think its any of the pulleys, they seem to be fine so I dont know what else it could be.


Heres a video I took today:
http://s45.photobucket.com/albums/f7...odtouch003.mp4

beyonddisturbed

iTrader: (5)

one thing ive learned with pulleys (id assume this would apply to almost all types on the car) is to spin them by hand. if they go more than 1-1.5 turns then it is likely they are causing a squeak. i would try this test on your other pulleys which havent been replaced. i recently replaced my idler and tensioner on the ac system as well as the serpentine tensioner. started as one squeak from main tensioner and then when i fixed that, I could hear the anther squeak. researched it, did the spin test, and replaced all the ones that were spinning too much. problem solved.

Unchainedl984

Thanks for the advice. I was playing with it today, and I bought a bottle of Barr's Leak water pump lube also. I drained the radiator and filled it back up with the whole bottle of water pump lube and new coolant so hopefully if it was the water pump, this will help for awhile.

I also tried to pully thing that you mentioned, and there was one that spun a little freely. I pulled the bearing cap off to see if it had any grease and it didnt have much, but for the time being I bolted it back up its spot and put the belt back on and when I started it it squeaked like crazy. I drove down the road and it squeaked louder/more consistently than usual so when I got back home I loosened that same pully bolt a little and fired it back up, with no squeak at all this time. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it was just the pully being bolted on too tight, but we'll see.

wssix99

iTrader: (5)

If you have bad bearings in your water pump, dumping magic potions in to the radiator won't help.

For $5-10, you can get a mechanic's stethoscope and find the exact problem.

Unchainedl984

I figured I'd give it a shot, it was only $2.99 and it says its safe for all the internals/mixed with any color coolant. Was hoping it would buy me a little time if it was the waterpump going out because it doesnt leak and its never overheated so I thought it was just squeaky bearings. It was still making a little squeak this morning so I geuss it didnt do much. Tomorrow when I replace the pulley (pullies if need be after I check the a/c ones) if the sound goes away for good then I'll drain the radiator and put new coolant in it without any lube stuff.

For an update on that pulley I loosened, I wouldnt recommend loosening any of them. I loosened it just a little bit to where it was still hand tight but looser that before and it stopped the squeak for a day, but it flew off down the road today taking that week old belt with it. I never thought it'd fly off like that because it seemed hand-tight, but lesson learned. While the belts already off I'm going to jack it up tomorrow and take the a/c belt off and try the pulley test on those ones too before I run to the parts store, I want to double check everything so I dont end up doing this again in a week.

wssix99

iTrader: (5)

A mechanics stethoscope is the best thing. For a few bucks you can find the definitive source of the problem and be gone with all the headaches. IMO - Its a must-have tool for any car over 7 or 8 years old:

RARON455

iTrader: (35)

Think about it,, If you swapped belts and the problem went away for a little bit,, then that was the problem, its not going to be a internal mechanical component, its in the drive system. I had a problem with my belt sqeaking on my car when I got it, I ended up swapping alternator pulleys, and cleaning all the other ones, I was convinced that was it,, IT wasnt, what ended up fixing mine was I swapped to a goodyear gatorback belt, been quiet every since. t

Unchainedl984

I've bought the best belt I could find at autozone, its a dayco w-rib design and its supposed to be the best they have for noises. Most expensive and highest warranty too.

What I dont get it why it will go away for a few days when I put a new belt on but then come back. They're brand new belts, and when I inspect them they dont look like they've cracked or anything. I get maybe 4 or 5 days out of it without squeaking, but then it always comes back. Starts a few minutes after I cold start it, dies down once it reaches around 150/160 degrees.

One more question, think a junkyard is my best bet to find that bolt that bolts the idler pulley to the housing? Went to autozone today to pick up the idler pulley but it doesnt come with the bolt to attach it, and I bought an assortment of bolts to try and get one that fits but they're all too long. Any ideas?

jbridwelltransam

iTrader: (12)

Just reuse your idler pulley bolt? It sounds like the problem is with one or more of your pulleys. I'm having pulley issues right now. Have you checked to make sure your pulleys don't have any play in them?

Unchainedl984

THe pulley flew off last night, taking the belt off with it along with the bolt that secures it in. Wish I still had it to reuse, every bolt I've found from autozone is too long in legnth to secure the pulley into the bracket so it looks like I'll have to cut the bolt to make it shorter. I have done the pulley test, the one that flew off was spinning free anyway but I checked the waterpump and its spinning a little long also, hopefully its not the one making noise because its not as bad as the pulley I'm replacing.

RARON455

iTrader: (35)

the yard, or ebay.. Possibly someone on this forum,if you post in the parts wanted section..

jbridwelltransam

iTrader: (12)

Someone around here is bound to have that bolt for you. Post up in parts wanted like he said. I was chasing through my pulleys thinking it was the PS pulley, I ended up grabbing the waterpump pulley and it was wobbling all over the place, but you couldn't really tell when the belt was going. So I'm replacing that, and hoping that will be the end of it.

Unchainedl984

Actually found a guy on craigslist who was parting out a complete ls1 and I got it off him. Thanks for the advice though guys.

I looked into those gatorback belts, and I geuss the general opinion is that the dayco ones really arent that high quality and the gatorback work better. I replaced that pulley and once again, it stopped for now. I'm hoping that pully was making the noise but if not then I think I'll try one more belt swap with a gatorback this time before I change the waterpump, really not wanting to do that.

wssix99

iTrader: (5)

Rubber on metal doesn't make a sound.

At your car's age, you can change a pulley and then the next one will go out 5 minutes after that. Everything rubber on the car is starting to be past its prime, including the seals on the pulleys - so its probably time for new bearings all the way around. If it isn't a pulley, (or even if it is) the mechanics scope will nail it down.

Unchainedl984

So I checked at Autozone, and they dont have the stethoscope. I took my AC belt off to play with the pullies, and there was no squeak so I took it for a short drive without the belt and I didnt get any squeak when it usually did.

Question is, I'm not hurting anything by driving without the a/c belt right? My only concern was that it was turned by the crank pulley, and I didnt know if the lack of the a/c belt would in turn take momentum away from the crank pulley? Just wanna be cautious, I live in MA so its gonna be cold for a while to come, and even during the summer I never use the a/c anyway so I dont mind it being off.

WS.SIX

iTrader: (3)

Not hurting anything by not running the a/c belt

99Bluz28

iTrader: (35)

May be the AC clutch isn't fully disengaging.

Unchainedl984

Well that damn squeak is back. Went away for a little while when I took the AC belt off which is why its driving me nuts. Goes away for a couple when I put a new belt on, but it also goes away for a couple days when I take the AC belt completely off?


Anyway, I checked autozone again on Saturday and they had a stethoscope in this time so I bought it and tested it out today. I put it directly up to (and even touching at some points) all the components that the squeal could be coming from. The squeal didnt seem to get any louder through the stethoscope when I put up against the water pump, or alternator/power steering/idler pully/belt tensioner.

Do you really think it could be the belts? I mean, i've tried 2 different brands now - one of which is the most expensive autozone carries - and it always goes away for a few days but then comes back. Difference now is it seems to start squeaking when the cars fully warmed up (just below 210 degrees) as opposed to before when it would squeak around 150/160 degrees. In both cases, it seems to go away after its been driven a couple miles.


Its driving me crazy, could it be an issue with the belt not being lined up right or something? The belt doesnt slip, but I really dont know what else could be making the noise.

wssix99

iTrader: (5)

Does the pitch of the squeal change when you rev the engine? I'm wondering if you may have a rough pulley or something like that. (If it was a mechanical bearing etc., you would hear it definitively through the stethescope.)

RyanEricW

check for drip