WARDOGX1982

Ok, i'm not an ASE certified mechanic, but I'm NOT clueless when it comes to chevy/gm/ls1 engine workings.

Situation: After changing oil, flushing/changing coolant, changing idler pulley, and being forced to go to a smaller serp. belt **p/s pump went out, ordered new one, old pulley was plastic, it broke, ordered new metal pulley, it's a smaller diameter than stock** the idler pulley was squeaking bad, so i changed it. now there is another squeak somewhere under the hood and i cant find it. if i play with the tensioner while engine is idling, the squeak stops.

Question/opinion: would this mean having to go with a smaller belt, again; or changing out the tensioner? i'm broke until the 1st so only one can get done for now. opinions and input welcome.

Chris1974

lol same thing happened to me when I replaced my power steering pump. Except I kept my old pully. I couldn't find the squeek either. I ended up replacing both idlers and the belt trying to get it to stop. I even tried roughing up the smooth part of the belt hoping that would fix it. Nope. ****** is still squeeling like a bitch. It drives me nuts. I'm going to give it a serious go this weekend, so if I happen to find it.....

What was wrong with your old ps pump? Did it happen to leak onto the belt, or the alternator/pully?

WARDOGX1982

it had a massive leak somewhere on the casing. tried to find it but no luck, so i just sucked it up and bought a new one. used the old reservoir. then i had to replace the pressure hoses. ARRGH! car was off the road for over a week.

btw, i replaced the belt but went a 1/2 inch smaller diameter. it solved it. i also think the belt construction made a difference. i had a 78.5 inch NAPA belt on there, but now the 78 inch duralast belt seems to be the solution. now when i do the major swaps this summer (cam, valvetrain, ls6 intake, oil pump, timing chain, underdrive balancer), i got to figure it out all over again. double arrrghh!!!

A297960

Use a Goodyear Gatorback belt.

DWake

iTrader: (1)

I second this. Had squealing issues as well, replaced almost every pulley and just switching to the gatorback belts solved it.

WARDOGX1982

yea gatorback is what i had on my old 82 z28. awesome belt. just strapped for cash now. paydays coming though.

Chris1974

I'll give this a try this weekend and report my findings. Thanks for the suggestion, A297960

Wardog- glad you got it figured out, man. If the gatorback doesn't work...I'll try your suggestion.

NortZ1989

Very common problem on most gm engines, check to see if the power steering pulley is on correctly. The end of the shaft needs to be flush with the end of the pulley. this will cause a squeak or chirp sound. should be able to tell very easy with your finger. hope this helps