The belt on my jeep has been on and off squeaking for the past year now. I have had 3 belts on it each belt will stop the squeak for a short time, but then it will come back. It's almost like a chirp it is the worst in the morning when I first start it, I will drive it and after 10 min it will go away. Let it sit for 3 hours or so then crank again it'll return. The belt Is very tight like it should, and I just put on a new gatorback belt didn't help.
If you spray wd40 or belt dressing it will go away for a short time but return.
I've put new water pump, idler pulley, and have new power steering pump. Any ideas or suggestions?

 

 

My '92 does the same thing. I've heard that belt dressing was used for the V-belts; that it's not good or doesn't work for serpentine.

I've even replaced the harmonic balancer.

I use Gates belts.

 

sometimes if you over tighten the belt once, it ***** the pressed on power steering pulley on the pump shaft, or maybe in your case the pulley got pressed on crooked? check to make sure while its running that the pulley is spinning perfectly straight, and make sure the belt alignment is dead on.. sometimes the pulley gets pushed on too much or not enough on the steering pump shaft

 

1st...get some brake-cleaner, and use it to get as much of the belt dressing off the belt as possible. 2nd...run it for a few minutes just to ensure that all the brake-cleaner has evaporated. 3rd...get a tube of silicone, I use the permatex "ultra Black" , but you can use anything, but i have found that Ultra Black or Ultra Grey works best. Apply a thin coat to each side of the belt....only a couple inches in length will work. Start the engine and let it run for about a minute. Shut the engine off, apply the silicone in the same manner as mentioned before. Now, Start it and let it run for about a 1/2 hr....or you can drive it, but make sure it is for about 1/2 hr.
Now, this is not a "proper" way to fix this problem and may sound stupid, but for some reason this works 80% of the time. I hope you will be part of that 80%....good luck.

 

You can go to NAPA and buy a KR2 V-Ribbed Tension Gauge. That way you can confirm the proper belt tension.

 

remove belt, wash thoroughly with sunlight dish soap, reinstall belt.

 

Mine did get worse after I dribbled coolant on it while changing the thermostat.

It was prone to chirp when cold, but now it does a constant swawk/chirp all the time.

Rinsing it off didn't help. Now it's time to try the Dawn I guess. And the RTV silicone. That's a good hint.

 

Thank for the help. I tweaked the belt for about and hour, loosed it up then gradually tightened it up, started it see if it squeak then more till it stopped. Got it to the right tension by doing this I think. Then I used a bar of soap on the smooth side of the belt. Been driving it for two days no squeak! Hoping it stays that way!

 

Trying this right now

 

Having the same issues man. I have a brand new belt, alternator, idler, steering pump and pulley. Have got it tight and used spray. Still squeals bad

 

Had the same issue which drove me nutz... ended up being that I had a very small pin hole leak in my radiator located behind the fan clutch and it would never be enough to drip antifreeze but would ever so often mist on to the belt and cause the squeaking. Also other things to look at are the various different pulleys that are smooth like the idler pulley, water pump and fan clutch and spin them with the belt off to see if any of them feel like they are going bad because if any of those are spinning slower than the rest due to a bearing going out it will cause the belt to slip on it because of the smooth contact surface. If they all feel good then rough them up with some fine grit sand paper because sometimes the smooth pulleys will get a glaze on them causing the belt to slip and not grip to the pulley.

 

Yea i have a brand new radiator. My water pump pulley is smooth and tight. And mine does it chronically hot or cold ac on or off

 

Went to crank it up this morning, now squealing extremely bad especially when accelerating. Driving me insane....

 

Do I take the belt off to apply?