Need suggestions on serpentine belt squeal

[intrek]

I appreciate any help you guys can give. I have been following some of the builds on here for awhile now, and am impressed with the level on knowledge on this site.

A little history of the car.
1996 Mustang GT with a Vortech V1 S-trim. I purchased the car with all current modifications already done, but have been fixing all the half ass work on it. I think it was owned by HP Motorsports in Omaha NE at one point. It has their entire line of track suspension installed.

More to the point. The car devolved a belt squeak awhile back, but I hadn’t got around to really looking into it until more recently. It started as a small “chirp†and turned into more of a squeal. The belt is plenty tight.

I had replaced the bearings in my supercharger idler pulley because I thought I heard excessive noise there. Also replaced the stock idler pulley at the same time. The squeak was still there, but would go away if I would spray some water on the ribbed part of the belt.
After buying a couple belts online that were 1†shorter than advertised, I purchased one locally of the correct length (115.25†outside circ.) which solved the problem for a couple days. Then the chirp came back, and turned back into the squeal. It still goes away when water is applied to the ribbed part of the belt, and comes back as soon as the water dries off. Last night I pulled the belt, cleaned with soap and water. Also wire brushed and checked over all the accessorie pulleys, then sprayed with brake cleaner.

When dry, i put the belt back on. It was nice and quiet until the soap wore off the belt, then the squeak is back. It sound like its more from the AC area (AC compressor is there, but not lines hooked up) and everything appears to be solid, no wobble and aligned well.

I’m very frustrated with this problem, and too embarrassed to drive it with the squeak, so there the car sits.

Any help/suggestions would be very appreciated.
Thank you all, Paul.

 

[OLD H2S]

What size pully is on the blower?

 

[ttocs]

any of the pulleys loose?

 

[intrek]

What size pully is on the blower?

I will need to measure it for an exact size. As far as I can tell it is the low boost one that came with the SC. Puts out about 7.5 pounds of boost or so (over 3” diameter)

All the pulleys turn easily without any wobble. Except for the tensioner pulley, I did find it has a little. wobble. I didn’t think that would be the culprit though becaus it rides on the back side of the belt, which doesn’t quiet when I spray water on that side. Am I wrong to overlook this pulley?

 

[intrek]

any of the pulleys loose?

All the pulleys are completely tight, except for the slight “wobble” mentioned in my previous post.

 

[evilcw311]

A compressor that has no lines on it means it has no oil to lubricate bearings. This can cause damage.


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[intrek]

A compressor that has no lines on it means it has no oil to lubricate bearings. This can cause damage.

Thank you, this is something I had not considered. I had ruled out bearing noise because of the water on the belt making the squeak go away, but maybe that’s a mistake. I want to replace th AC compressor at some point, and hook the lines back up. But until then, I guess I will need a delete pulley.

For now just to test the squeak, can I pour some oil into the AC compressor to see if that is my issue? Any particular type of oil?

 

[ttocs]

I thought I had heard this a while back as well but wasn't sure enough to say it myself.

 

[evilcw311]

Not sure if that will work or not. I just know from experience that running it dry is bad. Nothing like pulling up to my buddies garage later at night and there’s a glow coming from under the hood. Pop the hood really fast and find the compressor clutch on fire. Luckily I put it out easily but compressor is shot.

Afterwards I had a few people tell me not to run those dry like that.


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[ttocs]

when you follow the belt through the pullies is it right on top of them and not bent at all? The way it will work its way in and stop when its wet makes me wonder if either a pulley is not loosed enough to knock it out of alignment enough to make this noise or if there is bent bracket or something holding everything in place.

 

[intrek]

when you follow the belt through the pullies is it right on top of them and not bent at all? The way it will work its way in and stop when its wet makes me wonder if either a pulley is not loosed enough to knock it out of alignment enough to make this noise or if there is bent bracket or something holding everything in place.

The path of the belt looks to be properly aligned and square with all the pulleys. The AC compressor is a little harder to see with the super charger above it so I will look at that one again.

My thoughts had been misalignment as well. I looked at the pulleys closely and put a straight edge across as many as I could. I also visually inspected all the pulleys for dents, dings and defects. I lightly brushed them with a wire brush, and sprayed them with brake cleaner.

I will try putting some oil in the AC, and then kick it on in the car and listen for any changes. I may also spray some belt dressing on the belt to see if that makes a difference in the noise.

 

[intrek]

Glazing. Not just for donuts anymore.

My my father in law suggested the pulleys may have some glazing on them from past belt slippage. He said to press a scratch pad against them while the engine was running.

I zip tied a piece of scratch pad to a long screw driver, and carefully pressed it against the pulleys and ribbed side of the belt.

No no more squeaking!!!!

On a side note (and possibly related) when I pressed the screw driver scratch pad against the crank shaft pulley, I could feel and see a slight wobble. I’m guessing the rubber dampener is going to crap. Is this possibly the root cause of the squeak problem? Or was the squeak caused by past belt slippage from the motor being supercharged?

 

[Defiant]

I had the same problem, I scuffed the pulleys and still squeaked. Bought new ones and still squeaked, I had a half inch shorter blower belt that I knew was tight so that couldn’t be it. When I went back to the correct sized belt from a quality brand it went away for good.

 

[intrek]

I had the same problem, I scuffed the pulleys and still squeaked. Bought new ones and still squeaked, I had a half inch shorter blower belt that I knew was tight so that couldn’t be it. When I went back to the correct sized belt from a quality brand it went away for good.

I did some searching online for the correct length belt for my application, but couldn’t find anything. Maybe I should have searched longer, but gave up and just emailed the question to Vortech. I will post an update when the get back to me.

 

[SnakeBit!]

a/c compressor takes a specific oil. search it. specific oil and specific amount.

 

[01yellercobra]

But would it matter if the A/C isn't turned on? At that point its just freewheeling.

 

[ttocs]

is it different mounting from the V3? My belt is still new enough that I am pretty sure the number has not worn off of it yet and can look

 

[intrek]

is it different mounting from the V3? My belt is still new enough that I am pretty sure the number has not worn off of it yet and can look

I looked up the installation instructions on the Vortech site. Couldn’t find any for the V1. The V3si kit comes with a Gates K061130 belt (113”) and the one I use is Gates K061145 which is 114.5” inside and 115.25” outside circumference.

I can only assume they mount differently.
I did the belt “twist” test. I can twist it by had 90 degrees which is what the internet told me is OK.