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Need some input, I have a squeal coming from my belt drive. I took off the water pump belt and it was still there. So I took off both the water pump and ac belt and it seemed to go away. I reinstalled the water pump belt, without ac belt and the squeel came back. Possibly the harmonic Balancer? I put a mark on it and drove it and it doesn't appear to have moved. But it looks like it wobbles a little. Also looks like the rubber is slightly cracked on it. 2001 Firebird LS1
I've had this happen for a few different reasons.
-Recently I put a new water pump on, well my ac belt got coolant all over it and was squealing and chirping. I tried brake cleaner. Belt dressing. nothing would stoop it. Put a new belt, noise went away.
-Next situation. I had a 99 silverado and i made a bigger alternator fit, to the eye, it looked like it lined up perfect, upon closer inspection, it was off just a little bit.
-Then, my 2019 silverado developed a belt chirp around 10k miles. I tried belt dressing, nope. Took it to the dealer, they put a new belt on, noise stooped. Temporarily. Came back several thousand miles later. So I started looking at it, I noticed the balancer pulley had a slight wobble. (I actually noticed it the first time around and told the dealer but they did not change the pulley, just the belt) I took it to another dealer and explained to the advisor what i noticed and that I felt like a new pulley should be installed. They actually listened to me, new pulley runs true and the noise went away over 40k miles ago.
So there you have it, three different reasons the belt has made noise for me in my experience.
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Belt drive squeal 
