Squeaking noise driving me crazy!!!!
 

I have a 99 trans am that has had a very loud squeak when its cold and when its warm. It used to be very very loud until I replaced the following last week. New water pump. New belt, new tensioner pulley, new idler pulley and new crank pulley. The squeaking quieted down a bit after replacing the crank pulley. Its still squeaking coming from the driver side by the power steering. I bought another belt yesterday and still nothing. As soon as water touches the belt it goes away for about a minute.

It could be that either or both of the alternator /power steering pulleys have rubber residue from the old belt. Clean them off and see what happens.

ive done that as well with a wire brush 😥

Try some type of cleaner. There might be something the brush did not remove

The sound comes from driver side near power steering and water pump. The pump is new. If i spray the belt rub side on driver side the sound will get louder. If I spray the belt rib side on passenger side the sound goes away for few seconds. I tried my old belt as well and same concept.

Take a bar of soap and rub it on side/bottom of the belt while its running. Be careful not to get caught in there, no loose clothes. Should solve any belt squeal

Before putting any spray or anything on it to band aid it continue trying to find it. I say that because I've been a tech 20 years and there isn't a single belt band aid out there that lasts and doesn't make a big ass mess in the engine bay from slinging off the belt.

I've had several GM cars where the PS pulley wasn't pressed on far enough or pressed on too far cause the squeak. It will cause the belt to be misaligned and make noise.

Take a screw driver or extension and with the engine running place the shaft of the extension or screw driver in front of and behind the belt and lightly push the belt forward and backward to see what eliminates or makes the chirping worse. Apply a small little amount of pressure before each pulley and see where you get the sound to stop. My favorite place to check is between the power steering pump and crank pulley, since it's usually the PS pump pulley causing the problem.

If you want to very quickly find out if it's the belt or something to do with the belt, with the engine squirt water on the belt, if the noise stops and comes back shortly after it's something belt related.

If you can take a really clear picture of the front of the power steering pump where I can see how far the shaft is into the pulley I can probably tell you right off if it's likely to be the PS pump pulley

the side where the squeaking is coming from I sprayed and thr sound got louder. On thr Other side (passenger) I sprayed and it went away for a few seconds. I even put tension on the tensioner and it got louder 😖😖 both belts I have gotten were the same brand maybe that's it? The power steering pulley has a tad bit of play but not much. Thats the area its coming from

If the noise is changing when you spray water on the belt, getting louder and stopping all together that at least tells you it's for sure a belt related issue. But you'll have to do the rest of the steps I posted to help narrow down the problem.

Most likely the issues is alignment of the belt.

Pooter, I think you nailed it with the P/S pulley. OP says it's loudest near that one.

That's what I normally find on GM's that have a squeak that wont go away and the customer has replaced multiple pulleys/water pump/etc

But the test needs to be done to confirm it, push on the belt and see if it stops.

Update. Replaced the power steering and that did nothing. Replaced the belt again all that did was make the chirp quieter. Replaced water pump again and nothing. Crank balancer is new. Once water touches the belt threads it gets quiet for a second. Tensioner "I was told was replaced". Idler Pulley is new as well. Squeak doesnt happen with the belt off car for the few seconds I ran it without. Any ideas please

Ivory Bar soap. Use it

Slapping parts on is not diagnosing. You need to diagnose the issue first. I told you how to do it. I do it for a living and have for 20 years.

The squeak is going to be from a contaminated belt, never spray anything on a belt but water, it's always a short term cure if you apply anything at all to a belt. There's bandaids and there's repairs. Trust me I've seen people try everything in my line of work and it never lasts. You can fix it or you can bandaid it over and over and over.

This would have been a lot cheaper to diagnose and repair once. Throwing parts at it gets really expensive.

Replacing the "power steering" I don't even know what that means but the problem is usually that the pulley is not pressed on to the right depth. I asked for pictures and told you how to check it. If you don't get it at this point no other amount of ideas are gonna get you there.

Nothing is cheaper, faster, or easier than rubbing bar soap on your belt and there is no harm in doing this. Its not as if you can no longer solve a potentially deeper problem if you make your belt noise go away with soap, it wont harm a damn thing. Or go buy pricey belt dressing if you want that does the same thing as soap.

If there is a problem with the pulleys or idlers you can usually diagnose easy with the belt off and giving everything the spin and eyeball test. If there is a problem you dont find? Your belt wont last long. Good luck

Yeah!! Why fix something you can rig up every week or two and constantly be annoyed by the squeaking and having to mess with it over and over. And who cares if the belt is covered in goo and it slips and slings shit all over the engine bay.

Besides if you don't fix it and it tears up the belt that's cool, it's fun wasting money and working on the same thing over and over. Should be fun if you want to go on a long trip, or maybe you wont be able to because you can't trust your car.

I've seen it a hundred times as a tech.. People just want to believe whatever is easy and cheap. But they never do the math on what's actually cheaper. Fixing it once the right way or tossing shit at it over and over and bandaiding it endlessly.

Worth noting use dry white bar soap only. Not spray goop or oil, eeee gads NO OIL only use bar soap. Or buy a stick of bar belt dressing, its used all the time in our industry as part of the installation and service protocol its not at all considered a band aid. Harmonics happen, we use tools to defeat them. Dressing a belt is a tool for that and will not harm anything.

the new spray dressings are crap. Made for safety reasons, not because they work better than the solid type.

Whatever profession you were in was not automotive repair. Soaping a belt IS NOT part of installation and service on a vehicle and it is not a long term "fix". You were in an industry where frequent maintenance and wasted dollars was deemed normal and accepted.

It is not that way in the automotive field.

There is a fix for the squeak and soap is not it. And it can hurt, the driven accessories on an engine have a much higher drag than what you were working on i'm sure, that's why cars have gone from 3 rib to 4, all the way up to 8 in factory applications and increasing the belt wrap. Applying a substance to the belt only enhances the chances of more problems. There is absolutely no right way to band aid it. You either fix it or you don't.

I've worked with a ton of guys like you, when YOU can't find a solution you think there isn't one. And then you go telling everyone else it just can't be fixed. I get cars in like that all the time. I'm the lead tech over 7 shops and I have several of you guys under me. It get's fixed at my shop. That's why I get paid what I do. Granted it took me YEARS to get here and was not easy. I used to get stuck on this shit all the time and I just sought out guys smarter than me to learn from. But I never accepted a bandaid as a repair.

Thank you sir for pointing that out. You clearly know more

Do you also know that installing high performance parts and modifying your cars is NOT part of installation and service guides by manufacturers as well? Better tell the boards that mods and tricks are NOT approved methods of solving easy problems. Anyways I think the OP can choose what to do for himself if someone wants to try or not try the soap trick thats on them and either way I wish the OP best of luck on his nosie issue

Look at what you just wrote.

All along I thought people installed high performance parts to enhance performance... Damn I'm stupid.

And for the second part I'll tell anyone that tricks are not repairs. Unless it means it retains the original service life of a proper repair, then we can call it a repair and not a trick.

The soap will not last near as long as the repair. If you like constantly fooling with crap on your car instead of fixing it and forgetting about it for a few years, go ahead. I'd rather just spend the time fixing it and moving on with my life to other issues that need fixing.