Belt burning & squealing

ElrodKTPQ_89 · Mar 31, 2015

Ok so ever since I first got my car together I've had problems with the belt. First off I'll start with saying that initially I ran a deleted smog pump with a shorter belt, new tensioner pulley but still using the stock tensioner, and all other pullies were stock. Sometime after I finally got the car going and driveable I started having problems with the belt squealing horribly at start up but mostly only at start up. I'm talking this thing would squeal for a good minute at times then finally stop which was embarassing as hell. So a couple months ago I went to the O and bought a new belt, a Microgaurd, which was the cheapest brand but I just needed something at the time. I had also noticed I had a lot of burnt rubber covering the brackets, airbox, under side of the hood, etc. which also prompted me to change the belt.

So here a couple weeks ago I tore into the car to change the oil pressure switch and noticed my idler pulley was gone, so I bought a new one. Also a little before this time I started having an issue with my voltage dropping when the car was under a load, such as sitting at a stop light with my headlights, foglights and heater going...the voltage would drop and the belt would start squealing until I turned off the heater or fog lights for a moment then voltage would come back up, the squeal would stop and I would be good to go.

Anyway, this Saturday I went back to O Reilly's and warrantied out my alternator and belt, thinking that maybe something had gone wrong with my alternator. After changing everything out and firing it up for the first time guess what, no squeal. By that night it was back squealing again, and it has gotten progressively worse up until today where it has been almost a constant low squeal the entire time I'm driving it. I also noticed just tonight that there are signs of burnt rubber again on the brand new alternator coming from my brand new belt. And upon inspection of it at idle in my carport, it sounds like the squeaking/squealing noise is coming from in/around the alternator. Sooooo does anyone have any idea what could be going on?!? Alternator is new, idler pulley and tensioner pullies are new, belt is new. The only pullies that are original are the crank, water, ps and ac, and the ac pulley spins freely with no sign of being worn out. This is really starting to drive me nuts.

ElrodKTPQ_89 · Mar 31, 2015

Also just noticed this when I walked back outside to look at everything again...looks to be transmission fluid, leaking from the bottom fitting on the radiator. Just noticed it TODAY. The car stays parked under a carport on clean swept concrete so I pay attention for any leaks under the car, this has just developed without a doubt. Could it be possibly spraying onto the belt and causing it to slip? And even if so then what has been causing it previously while there has been no leak?

ElrodKTPQ_89 · Apr 1, 2015

Went ahead and ordered a new tensioner from LMR as well, forgot to mention that. It should be here this Friday. When I got the car the tensioner had been left in a bucket of bolts so it was all rusty and junk, I just brushed it really good on a bench grinder, repainted it and put a new pulley on it. So I was told the other day that it's pretty likely that the spring inside is just worn out. Never hurts to have a new tensioner anyway especially after the life mine has had spending two years at the bottom of a bucket in actually surprised it still worked at all. I know I should have just pinched the extra cash and bought one back in 2013 when I was putting the engine together. :deeplist:

CC'S95GT · Apr 1, 2015

I'm also battling an annoying chirp. Like you I've replaced the Alt, tensioner pulley and idler pulley. Also the water pump, timing chain and TC cover is new. But I haven't changed the belt yet though.
I've also removed the belt all together just to rule out the dizzy squeaking. I've not had any problems with the belt wear though. The chirp does go away after driving it a while.
I might put the UDP's back on with the smaller belt since I still have it.

ElrodKTPQ_89 · Apr 1, 2015

Mine had been going away after a few minutes of driving. This morning it was making noise almost all the way to work which is about a ten minute drive from my house. It may have actually still been doing it just not as loud or not loud enough to hear over my exhaust.

ElrodKTPQ_89 · Apr 1, 2015

hotmustang95 · Apr 1, 2015

Ok, so I went through this also. It happened to me when I installed under drive pulleys on the car. One of the under drive pulleys in the kit of three is for the alt. This pulley was bigger then the stock one which spun the alt slower then normal and causing voltage drops at idle and worse at night. To fix this I put a smaller pulley on the alt with the idea being it would spin the alt faster and even everything out. Well what ended up happening was that because the new pulley was so small that there was just not enough surface area for the belt to grab. Add the load/tension the alt demands at times and you get belt slippage. Worse in the mornings when the belt is cool and slippery. Once it heats up and becomes sticky then it would eventually grab and quite down. Not saying you may have UD pulleys but the alt pulley just might be to small.

GEORGEKLASS · Apr 1, 2015

How long is your belt? When I removed the smog and added pulleys to my LX I had a squealing noise. Turns out the belt was .5 too long.

On my 95 the previous owner installed pulleys and removed the smog. He somehow managed to run the stock belt in a weird ass routing. It worked but the tensioner was hitting a bit
I got a belt and sure enough I had a light squealing noise once the belt stretched a bit. I got a smaller size, problem seems to be solved. Hope this helps

Tony Corley · Apr 2, 2015

You have already listed a couple of different reasons you could be having the issue. Weak tensioner and trans fluid on the belt. First step is to fix the leak, replace the tensioner AND the belt again, and then see if the problem is solved.

CC'S95GT · Apr 2, 2015

I'm gonna try some belt dressing just to rule the belt out. Hopefully that's all it is.

Kboss87 · Apr 6, 2015

Could be misaligned pulleys. Did you ever remove the PS pump pulley? It needs to be pressed back on to be in line with the other pulleys.

castine917 · Apr 6, 2015

I'm voting to long of a belt.

ElrodKTPQ_89 · Apr 6, 2015

Kboss87 said:
Could be misaligned pulleys. Did you ever remove the PS pump pulley? It needs to be pressed back on to be in line with the other pulleys.

Yes it has been removed and was also reinstalled/pressed back on with the pulley tool. Tensioner came in Friday and I took the old one off yesterday the spent some time trying to clean off all the burnt rubber that's covering everything under the hood. Today after work I will probably go ahead and put the new tensioner back on then go to the parts store and get a new Gates belt in place of the cheapo I have now. I'll also check and see what length my belt is when I get home.

Kboss87 · Apr 14, 2015

ElrodKTPQ_89 said:
Yes it has been removed and was also reinstalled/pressed back on with the pulley tool. Tensioner came in Friday and I took the old one off yesterday the spent some time trying to clean off all the burnt rubber that's covering everything under the hood. Today after work I will probably go ahead and put the new tensioner back on then go to the parts store and get a new Gates belt in place of the cheapo I have now. I'll also check and see what length my belt is when I get home.

how'd you make out?

ElrodKTPQ_89 · Apr 15, 2015

Haven't even touched it again, lol. Kinda got pulled into another project here at the house and it really hasn't even been on my mind til today. I will for sure be working on it this weekend.