Brl24

For about the last three weeks, on cold starts my belt will squeal quite loudly for a couple seconds, and gets worse the colder it is.
My first thought was a loose belt, which seems to be fine but I'm not exactly sure how to tell. There was only about a quarter inch of play in the belt.
My next thought is obviously, needing a new belt as I'm not sure how old this one is, or possibly a bad bearing somewhere.
Over the last couple days it has been really cold, and it has also squealed at a different time... When I have already been driving for a while and the enitial squeal was gone, I would push in the clutch to downshift and while the clutch is in it squeals, stopping when I let it out again.

Brl24

Just wondering if these clues can tell me something, anyone?
I'm gonna get some belt dressing tonite and try that.

zsolt117

I have the same problem, I'm about 90% sure its a pulley do to the fact that it only does it when
Its cold and the squeal stops once it warms up, mine does it really bad when I turn the
Heat or air on so I figure its the accessory pulley or something along those lines do to the
Fact it does it when I turn the rear defroster on and that's not air driven.

knight_yyz

iTrader: (40)

The rubber belt gets hard when it is cold so it doesn't grip as well

T_Behr904

This...

Also, if it's an old belt, it makes it worse since the rubber isn't as pliable as it was when it was new.

Galactica

iTrader: (5)

Mine was doing this with new belts and I learned the hard way that the bearings on the AC pulley were going bad when I was driving down the road and it went BOOM and blew the pulley right off the shaft. Cost me close to 400 bucks for a new Calsonic compressor to be put in. If it's periodic, you might want to check that pulley....just sayin...

Brl24

Yah, I knew the belt being cold/old could cause it to squeal.

I am more suspicious/worried that a pulley has a bad bearing. I've never had the belt off before, from what I understand you remove the splash guard, and access from the bottom? My assumption would be to remove tension and check all the pulleys. How do I know how tight to make the belt when I reinstall?

TunerMaxima3000

iTrader: (4)

Probably just belt slip. Cold belt and cold start means the alternator loads up a lot which compounds the problem.

Mine has been doing this with the cold weather every morn also, I'm going to try snugging the belt up a bit.

Try starting the car with lights, heater, radio, etc all off see it its less

ffcbairn

I would agree it sounds like belt slip; however, the pulleys are known to break on these cars. Had it happen to me. The OEM pulley is a two piece design, an outer ring, and an inner ring. The two are separated by a rubber piece which will degrade. When it degrades to a certain point, the outer ring comes off-kilter and when it comes off-kilter enough it will snap the belts. When I was trying to figure out what it was, I initially also suspect bad bearings on one of the other pulleys (main crank pulley has no bearings). It wasn't until the belts snapped that I realized what was actually breaking.

http://s102.photobucket.com/albums/m...t=DSCF2624.mp4 This video is more for the audio so you can hear the noise I was getting.

In this image I have marked where the rubber degraded and allowed the rings to separate.

To inspect your crank pulley, just jack it up, remove the passenger side wheel, and the splash guard there. You should then be able to check out the condition of the rubber in the crank pulley.

bella18

hello,

I have a 97 GLE, it literally does the squeal every winter. I'm in the GTA. It does it when it's cold, goes away when the car is warmed up or the squeal is much shorter in length. It's worse when the AC/ Eco mode fan is on.

I took it into the shop, they adjusted the belt and the noise is gone. The belts did not need to be changed and it was the AC belt in the back, not the alternator belt. They need to put the car up to get to the belt to adjust it.

The joke is now, i think they made it too tight as now i hear a slight buzzing noise- like it's a different car... I may have them check it again.

HTH

Brl24

Thanks fellas, I'll have a look tomorrow and if it looks ok, I'll try tightening it up, as well as starting without accessories on.

ffcbairn

Good luck. Let us know what you find. BTW you asked how to know how tight to make them. The way I do it is to tighten to a certain point, and then try twisting the belt. If you can twist it more than 60* or so it is too loose. You will have to check both belts, but the smaller belt is easier to check because it only works the power steering. Hope that all makes sense, let me know if it doesn't.

Edit: found a video that shows what I am talking about, around the 1:10 mark. He says to tighten until the belt will only turn 90* but it looks like his car has a much longer belt section which would allow for greater rotational movement than our cars. I would tighten ours until you get about 60* of rotational movement.

Lontar1

iTrader: (5)

is not your pulley is your belt going bad... or not oem. I have the same problem after my mech replaced mine for a no oem one. Im going to replace it again with an oem one and problem solve....