Serpentine belt squeaking - too tight or too loose?

[Jeff U]

Hi guys,
My serp belt is squeaking at times, but not all the time. If I'm at idle, and rev it up around 4K, it squeaks pretty bad. Same happens when the car is cold and about to die (no choke), I'll give the throttle a little stab to keep it alive and it squeks there too. This belt only has 1400 miles.

Thoughts?

Thanks,
Jeff

[dennisb]

Do you have the stock spring tensioner or do you use the alternator position to tension the belt? Does it squeal at 4k, or while accelerating to 4k?

If the belt squeals under acceleration it is too loose.

Dennis B.

[Rich A]

If your using the stock auto tensioner there should be markings on the front of it to let you know if the belt is stretched.
Also check the belt routing!

[forrest1]

Too loose. Some brands of belts are "stretchy" and will do this more than others.

[hind sight]

Guessing too loose also. If the squeaking was more consisdent at most any rpm I would look for a pulley mesalignment, but yours just sounds too loose.

[Jeff U]

Thansk for the responses guys. I do not have a tensioner. I have a carb setup with Mike Everson's alt bracket kit (that's the tensioner).

Very simple serp belt. Alt, water pump, crank. That's it.

Dennis - it squeaks at 4K and higher, but not while excelerating up there.

J

[sgspeed]

Loose

[bchaulk]

Jeff
I had that problem with my March pulley set up. I have just the basic alternator,crank pulley and water pump. I customized the set up a bit (didn't like the alternator sticking up around the valve cover hight). I didn't have enough surface area of the alternator pulley making contact with the belt surface. I took a
little bit of the peaks off the pulley and no more squeal.
You can also try a Gator belt from Goodyear,
believe Summit has them.

Good luck

[Basilisk]

My tensioner pulley was squeeking. Shot some silicone lube into it and it went away.

[CraigS]

On the brand cars I work on some of the models use the Ac comp. or PS pump to adjust tension.It is scary how tight we have to make them to avoid a squeal a week or month later.Tighten it up!

[1hotsc]

It's a bit loose. I had the same thing happening and we have the same setup. Gave it little turn and it's gone back to sleep.

[blk99svt]

is it a 5.0 or a 4.6
if its a 5.0 and the belts too lose
itll rub together by the belt pulley tesioner and the friction will break the belt everytime

i had a belt problem on my 4.6 dohc and it shreaded the side of the belt
didnt break it but itd start squeeking

it was a real easy fix
just change the belt tensioner