CK9887

Had a squeaky serpentine belt on the vette.... So went ahead and just replaced it, well, its still squeaky, Any Ideas?

kokingSS

iTrader: (2)

spray some belt conditioner on it, may b then tensioner bearing is going bad? sorry just my $0.02

CK9887

With the old belt, belt conditioner would just seem to make it worse, It would make the squeak go away for a few minutes, then the squeak comes back after that.

FiredUpZ28

rub a bar of soap on both sides of the belt with the car running. If that doesn't help, check to see if its a bearing in a pulley.

CK9887

Went ahead and ordered a new tensioner pulley, Hopefully this will fix it

tording99Z28

iTrader: (3)

More than likely the belt tensioner. They are pretty common to squeak on the F bodies and knowing GM I would say the corvettes are no different.

kokingSS

iTrader: (2)

yes b/c that sounds so effing safe.

blitzd247

iTrader: (9)

guarantee thats it. Dealer just replaced belts and ac compressor on my gto and i stilled had the squeak. They replaced the tensioner and its gone.

CK9887

Yep im almost sure it will fix the squeak, But seeing as its an Autozone part, I will probably be replacing it again in another week. lol

8a8mfh

iTrader: (3)

GM replaced a belt on my car back when it was under warranty, it looked like they took about a 1/2 cup of silicone grease and coated the belt with it because it was squishing out of the sides and all over the pullies. It was in for a lifter tap, and they replaced the belt

superbee_68

iTrader: (3)

Definately dont use belt dressing, very bad idea. Its only a band aid to the problem.

The cheapest and easiest thing to do is to repack the idler (if you have one) and tensioner pulleys. Usually they are dry. Just pull them off the car, its a 15mm socket, pop off the seal, and repack them. There is a thread on this forum that shows you how to do it. This fixed my cars squeak, and it didn't cost anything.

Try that before you put on the new tensioner, might save you some money.

Make sure the belt and pulleys are completely grease free before you put it back together.

CK9887

Well just replaced the tensioner pulley and still squeaking!
WTF.

It sounds like its coming from the tensioner pulley, so why would it still be squeaking?

Theres a washer type thing that goes on between the pulley and bolt... Looks like it rides right up against the bearing, could it be this?

Josh Nickelsen

iTrader: (9)

Well I can tell you this, I had the same problem for quite awhile. I searched a lot on here because there are a million threads just like this one and I found that there is a service bulletin about the squeak. I started out by buying new belts and the squeak would stop for a bit but come back. I tried the cheapest belts and also got a brand new gates and it still did it. I repacked the bearings and even changed the alternator bracket because the 98-00 I believe had a problem with the alternator bracket going bad. I even had the alternator rebuilt because I thought it could have been the bearings going out on it. Still squeaked. I then read that a lot of people were saying use a gatorback belt and that it would stop squeaking. Well it hasn't been squeaking for months now. So I don't know with the combination of changing parts finally got it and then throwing a new gatorback on it made it stop or if it just need a better quality belt. I went trough 4 brand new belts before it stopped squeaking for good. I really hope the squeak doesn't come back because it is so annoying that I hated driving my car anywhere. Nothing more embarassing than pulling into a gas station or somewhere where there are nice cars around and yours sound like ****!

CK9887

The new belt we put on is a gatorback... The sound seems to be coming from the tensioner side, I can tell for sure its not coming from the alternator.

lunatik

WOW, I hope my sweaks aren't that ****. I replaced my belt a few weeks ago and it worked for almost a week. Its back. I do have a residue on my water pump pulley. I cleaned it off as well as the other pulleys before i put on the new belt. Residue is back. The new belt's slick side shows some wear on it already. the printing is rubbed off and smeared.

Josh Nickelsen

iTrader: (9)

Did you check all your pulley to see if they are dried out? Sorry if I missed it and you have tried that all ready. Don't forget to check your A/C tensioner as well. Just take the belts off and spin the pulley's if you haven't tried that. I'm sure you have though. I put a socket on the main drive tensioner and pushed on it when the car was running to make sure it was tight and to see if it would stop squeaking. It didn't and the pulley of the tensioner didn't squeak when I would spin the pulley.

idrivefast22

I hav the same problem. Did you guys ever figure out the problem?

CK9887

Still havent fixed the problem... Im pretty sure it has to be coming from the AC tensioner... The squeak quiets a little when I turn on the AC... theres also an idler pulley down by the AC tensioner right?

Luder[PAK9]

If you think its the a/c belt or tesnioner, just take the a/c belt off. All it runs is the a/c, so you won't be harming anything. If the noise goes away, you've found your problem.

Viper

iTrader: (6)

"The squeak quiets a little when I turn on the AC... theres also an idler pulley down by the AC tensioner right?"

Yes. There are 4 that can be taken off the car and repacked with grease. 1/2 hour job, 3 are 15mm, 1 is a T-50 torx.