Either your belt is loose/worn or the A/C compressor is going out.

 

Yours has what is called an idler pulley. I think '97 and later have a spring loader tensioner, but I'm not sure about that.

 

Its manually adjusted n ive tried tight loose everything and still a squeek

 

Replace the power steering pump pulley.

Also, make sure all the belt guide grooves are clean and free of old rubber.

 

My ps pump pully doesnt have bolts to take the pully off or is there somthing im missing? Or does the whole pump need to be replaced?

 

Ok, I went through this same squeel problem for years, replaced belts, ac compressor and still had a LOUD squeel when it was wet out. Squeeled when turning on the AC, or the blower to defrost the front window. I tightened the belt, which needs to be tight, changed to Delco belt with ribs which the dealer recommended, not that cross cut design which my jeep mechanic friend said they found squeel more.

I was thinking about changing the alternator, which was original with 135,000 to see if that was the problem. One day my alternator guage showed 10V and was squeeling, so I had a replacement alternator (picked up real cheap and stored on the shelf for 3 years) and went to Sears where I work part time in the automotive garage, to use a lift. One of my buddies opened the engine to look at the alternator, told me to start the engine and the Power Steering Pump blew out and sprayed fluid all over the engine and him.

Replaced the Power Steering Pump and have not had the squeeling noise for 2 years now. My guess the bearings in the pump reservior were going bad and causing the belt to slip when under load from the AC etc., but took years of squeeling before the bearings craped out.

 

Auto parts store rent-a-tool program will have a pulley puller you can rent.

The pulley is a pressed-on item on the p/s pump shaft. You remove/install using the tool.

NO hammers!

 

I wouldn't replace the power steering pump or pulley unless i knew that that was the problem. Before u go changin parts and spendin $, u need to adress each pulley and the belt itself. Ok so, unless ur balancer is comming apart and the outside of it it rubbing the timing cover we know that the crank isn't the problem. If the PS pump is going out it's gunna feel sloppy or gritty when u turn it by hand. Also check for metal shavings around the back of the pulley, where the shaft comes out of the res/pump. If the water pump is bad ur gunna find slop in the bearrings when u try to wiggle the pulley up and doen or sideways. Also usually a bad water pump will leak coolant out of what i call the weep hole, a small hole machined into the pump housing. The idler/tentioner is just a bearring if it aint sloppy or gritty feeling them its probly not the problem. The alt. will useually cause chargeing problems b4 it gets bad enuff to cause belt problems. Also feel the AC clutch bearing. When u spin it by hand it should spin freely and smoothly for a while. If all the pulleys spin good and feel good u might just need a new belt and put it on a little tighter the 1st time. I have ruined a couple belts by runnin them loose enuff to slip a little. Seems like once that belt slipps enuf to squeek and sqeel it scorches the rubber on the back side (smooth side) and then no matter how much u tighten it it'll continue to sqeek sqawk and sqawl. But i also ruined a water pump by over tightening the belt. It a fine line tween too tight and too lose. Idk why they didnt all have spring loaded tentioners, would make it a whole lot ezer for us ''shade tree technitians''.

 

Thanks for the info Firestorm!

 

Well, what did u end up doing, and did it fix ur problem?

 

Seriously on my 2000 I put a new Gatorback belt on and kept tightening and trying until the noise stopped all the time..I have NEVER had to tighten a belt this tight BUT it has stopped sqealing and still has some flex left in it. maybe 20-25 degrees.

 

Well i changed the water pump the ac and ps pump are fairly new im thinking its the harmonic balancer so im going to buy one and try that out

 

you can take a bar of soap and hit the belts while its running. (CAREFUL OF THE FANS!) and if you noise stops you know its a belt or mis aligned pulley

 

The same squeak happened to me when I replaced my water pump last weekend... loudest with the AC on. I tightened it, then again, then a little more and now everything is good.

Tighten the belt.