Recently there has been a loud squealing noise coming from the belt area of my car. When I had it in the shop they recommended replacing the alternator and I did that. It still squeals and they readjusted the belts but that lasted only about 10 miles before it started again. It mainly occurs around 20 mph or lower usually in first or second gear unless I rev up to about 2000rpms it sorta goes away. This squealing isnt heard on normal highway driving just at slower neighborhood speeds. Are there any other belt driven parts that I should look into fixing or replacing since the alternator and belt adjustments havent worked? I have a 1996 se with about 114000mi.

 

Have you tried to tighten it? Usually it is a loose belt.

 

Well when I "fixed" it the second time I made sure it was fairly tight. The shop said it was probably too tight so they loosened it. So I'm not sure if theres a very small sweet spot of belt tension that neither the shop nor I can set the new belts to. thanks

 

I have pulled my serpentine belt a couple of times and had it squeal when I put it back together. This was usually in the morning when everything was cold. Tightening the tensioner fixed it, so now I try to tighten a little more than I think it needs.

 

Yeah, I am checking my serpentine belt right now too. It looks very tight already and I was actually thinking about loosening it. I have a haynes manual and it recommends 1/4-1/2 of deflection movement in the belts. I figured if this belt was too tight maybe loosening it will help, otherwise maybe ill have to overtighten it?

 

Does it happen on a launch or acceleration?

Could be the water pump too. If the rotor is worn then it could be jamming up on acceleration making the bely slip. Once you get up to speed and its rotating at a constant speed everythings OK.

Just a thought.

 

Check to make sure everything is in perfect alignment. If anything is off, even a little bit, it will cause the belt to squeal.

 

Try replacing your belt tensioner. That is what I had to do.

 

It's probably too tight. If the belt is too tight it will cause a pulley or two to bind up and cause a horrible squeal which will generally go away if you rev to higher rpms. A squealing pulley and a squealing belt do sound a little different though so you need to have a trained ear to distinguish between the two. Loosen the belt a little first, if the squealing gets better then continue loosening until you find the sweet spot, otherwise tighten until the squealing subsides. If neither way works then chances are your idler pulley is toast.

Also some belts simply make more noise than others. In my experience Gates belts simply suck because if they aren't adjusted just right they'll squeal like a b*tch, especially on Fords. It's due to how the belt is designed since they just have the grooved cut straight down the belt. Other belts, such as a Goodyear Gatorback, also have diagnal cuts in the belt which greatly reduce noise and make for a much quieter belt. Just my 2 cents

 

The bearing in the tensioner tends to go bad on higher mileage Maximas. Those can easily make that noise providing all else checks out fine.
Remove the belt and start the engine briefly and see if the noise goes away immediately. That's a quick way to eliminate alternator & a/c compressor on the spot.
The belts on our cars are not that noisey when everything is working. Any unusual noise is easily noticeable.

 

try to get some belt dressing....autozone 2.99....

 

Get a new belt, thats what i did. The grooves were good on mine but the smooth side was glazed, hence causing squealing. If your cheap just sand down the tensioner pulley.

 

Belt dressing is not for use on serpentine belts

 

ok my whole tensioner pully assembly came OFF....i had it replace today along with a new belt...both the tensioner and the belt came from the dealer as OEM parts.....i had them installed I DROVE MY CAR ABOUT 15 miles to my other job and later that night after getting off about 5 hours later i start my car up and it squeals...any ideas??
i have a 2001 nissan maxima with 77k miles

 

I've had some belt squealing on our 1998 Maxima GXE automatic, that was sporadic, for a several months. It recently started to squeal much more loudly and consistently and the alternator concurrently needed to be rebuilt (idiot light came on) which, we thought may have been part of the problem. I had the Nissan-made alternator rebuilt by an exceptional automotive electrical component re-builder with 40 plus years of experience. He has rebuilt at least half a dozen other components on my several elderly cars. Always perfect. He showed me the parts and it definitely needed rebuilding. He was amazed the alternator still worked until it failed. The good news was the alternator had over 210,000 miles on it. I know this to be true because we've driven the car that many miles and the alternator has never been worked on. Go Nissan!

When I put it back together with a new belt the squeal was still present. I tried another new belt by a more reputable parts maker and it still squealed. I replaced the Nissan-made Pulley Assembly, which seemed to be working properly, with the upgraded Genuine Nissan part #11925-31UOC. The inflection on the belt was spot on with every install attempt because I measured it. I also tried changing the tension tighter or more loose to see if that mattered. It squeals about the same. It seems to diminish after driving a few miles but it doesn't always stop. The A/C compressor seems to be working properly and still does a good job cooling the car. When you turn on A/C it doesn't make it start squealing or to squeal more loudly. When viewing the engine with the access panel behind the right front wheel removed, the belt seems to be rolling perfectly in exact alignment (no wobble). All the pulleys appear to be spinning correctly. When I run it with the serpentine belt completely off but with the power steering belt still on, it doesn't squeal . That would seem to eliminate a bad bearing or other issue.

I'm out of ideas. Anything else I should be trying?