Belt Chirping SOLVED!!!
Teching In
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 10
Likes: 0
OK here we go after long time not posting about our common belt squeaking/alternator chirping sounds. Having 2 of these like cars (99 Firehawk-6M an 01 WS-6 6M) here is my story. Replaced the 2 belts, 2 idlers, and 2 tensioners on the WSW-6 a couple years ago and no problem since. Now chirping starts on the Hawk so I change all the same items and the noise is still there. Checked alignment, cleaned the pulleys, mounting shaft depths, etc. So after reading all the threads I decided to replace the alternator. OK, replaced the alternator with rebuilt from AZ. Same noise, WTF. Put old alternator back on and of course noise still present. NOW WHAT? Here's where the self kicking *** started. I checked the PS pump reservoir. It was way low. Filled it to correct level and WHAZOO the noise disappeared. Did not want to post a reply too soon and gave it some time to prove/disapprove "The Fix". Been over a month now and quiet as a mouse. My story. Hope it helps someone.
Staging Lane
Joined: Oct 2018
Posts: 78
Likes: 20
SO to not start a new thread I jumped on this one. My power steering was the problem that the fella I got the car from gave up on. Gooed up the whole belt system as he just kept putting fluid into a Bad pump. Or so he thought. It was the high pressure hose leaking right out the front. He said it killed his alternator and he was not going to replace that again. Anyway- cleaned it all up and the pulleys.fixed the leak and new belt. Bam! Squeaking when cold. So it could be the alternator bracket?
I had a serious belt squeal on my track Miata since it doesn't have a tensioner. What worked for me was to spray the belt while running with Zaino tire dressing (or 303 vinyl dressing). Belt squeal solved.
Staging Lane
Joined: Oct 2018
Posts: 78
Likes: 20
That is good news. That stuff is not cheap though. Where do you find a good deal on that? So I removed the alternator to check the brackets for breakage and they are ok. I cleaned the pulley and ran some light sand paper through the grooves at high speed. I think I see some runout in the harmonic balancer. I guess 150,000 miles and a leaking steering line,for who knows how long, could have affected the rubber but it wobbles ever so slightly. Not good for the crank I would imagine either.
I went with a manual belt tensioner, new idler, and a gatorback belt to fix my chirping. The gatorbacks are quiet because they allow the belt to move with alignment issues rather then fighting the belt. So rather then throwing money at an alignment problem I think its better to throw money at a belt that doesnt care about alignment as much as factory belts. If it chips with a gatorback then get out a spray bottle of water, find the shortest belt span between pulleys and spray it (good place to start), if it squeals more when sprayed then its tension related (low tenstion), if less then its probably alignment. Usually the shortest belt span will cause the noise if its not just a messed up old pulley or idler bearing. I run gatorbacks on everything now, got tired of chirping belts!
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 Staging Lane
Joined: Oct 2018
Posts: 78
Likes: 20
Intrigued. Manual tensioner? My tensioner does have a wee bit of slop but I worked it tighter and looser and nothing helped. I DO have a cheap ebay belt as the one on there was melted from steering fluid. It was fine for two days. Go figure. Where do you get a Gatorback?
I'd like to hear how your belt fits, install is easy but I had to put the pulley on the belt and pull it to get it on the bracket of the tensioner with the adjustment all the way down. I found a part number on autozone or something and found a old stock belt. But it was like the belt was an inch or two too small. I don't mind because it fits snug as can be, manual tensioners get mixed reviews but mine has been great so far and its seen the track for 3 passes.
Rock auto has that continental belt I think.
Rock auto has that continental belt I think.
Staging Lane
Joined: Oct 2018
Posts: 78
Likes: 20
Ok so After some thought I cancelled the manual tensioner and am going to try the belt and possibly a harmonic balancer after seeing the slight wobble again.My alternator did have the rear bracket and I am going to go ahead and clean it up as much as I can and reinstall it. I still have the stock pulley on my steering pump but heard it was a composite material and that it can be switched to a steel unit off of a V6 Firebird. I am a bit strapped for cash so I have to be very careful on my purchases to hopefully hide them from my wifey...
Thanks for the info. I saw the part for 45.00 on gmpartsdirect and also for over 100.00 on ebay. I'll gladly pay the 45.00 to shut it up.
This has turned into quite the money pit and I'm still throwing money at it. There's a little voice in my head telling me to put just a little bit of belt dressing on it. I WILL NOT! I've done it in the past and it just leaves you will a sticky chirpy mess.
This has turned into quite the money pit and I'm still throwing money at it. There's a little voice in my head telling me to put just a little bit of belt dressing on it. I WILL NOT! I've done it in the past and it just leaves you will a sticky chirpy mess.
You can try a glob of dielectric grease. Works but might not be permanent. OK, I've been told this isn't a good idea as it will make the belt slippery.
Last edited by wannafbody; Jun 5, 2022 at 10:33 AM.
Staging Lane
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 87
Likes: 1
From: kyle texas
Ok lots of good info on this thread. I too have been fighting the squeaky belt bs. I finally solved my belt squeak problem. I pinpointed the squeak coming from the water pump pulley. I did all the common things Ive see on all these posts and the squeal always came back. Then one day I got to thinking about it. I realized that the back of the belt feeds under the water pump pulley so I thought what if I cleaned the backside of the belt with a toothbrush and some degreaser? I tried it and what do you know it made a difference but the squeak eventually came back but not as bad. The next thing I wanted to try is sand the water pump pulley but not smooth I wanted to rough it up the back side of the belt is smooth already so to me smooth and smooth equals squeak. I sanded the pulley to make it rough cleaned the back of the belt with degreaser and its been 6months zero squeak.
Staging Lane
Joined: Oct 2018
Posts: 78
Likes: 20
That is good news. Keep us updated. I tried that too. I cleaned all the pulleys and roughed up the water pump pulley. It did not seem to work. I had a brand new super cheap ebay belt so I went ahead and took my 4" grinder and very carefully cut angled grooves across the ribs every 1/2" or so. Squeal was gone. I did not run it for very long this way but it was definitely gone as it was most prevalent on first start up. I most likely will toss the belt when I get this back on the road after the swap into my 72 Blazer. I will run it for a while (during testing in my driveway) on this belt just to test it for squeal. I am going to run an aftermarket AC and bracket up high so it will get a longer belt anyway but I will use this one for a baseline before the conversion to see if the conversion squeals and should be able to pinpoint from there which is the issue if there is one.
Teching In
Joined: Jan 2016
Posts: 25
Likes: 2
I know this thread is old but anyone running ICT power steering and alternator brackets with a squeaking problem check your alignment with a straight edge-I changed the water pump twice changed the alternator both pulley’s and the squeaking was still there until I realized with a straight edge the power steering pump was out a 1/8” so I machined the 3 aluminum spacers .10 and no more squeaking-lesson learned
