Changed serpentine belt and still slight squeal after cold start??? (1 Viewer)

[sPaulp]

So, last week I heard a slight squeal during cold starts. The squeal is intermittent and very faint. It seems as if something kicks on causing it to start the slight squeal, and then stops whenever "it" kicks off. It is completely eliminated after warm up. I replaced the belt with a new OEM Bando belt a few days ago. Any thoughts what this could be?

 

[mejerifly]

Check the alignment of the belt. It could be tensioner pulley also. What side of the engine does it come from?

 

[sPaulp]

Check the alignment of the belt. It could be tensioner pulley also. What side of the engine does it come from?

I opened up the hood this morning but couldn't lock down the precise area. Is sounds like its coming from the front top portion, but it's not obvious. I watch the belt as the engine is running and it seems true, meaning it doesn't move side to side hardly at all.

 

[TonyP]

Any signs of coolant?

 

[sPaulp]

Any signs of coolant?

None at all. I looked over the engine bay thoroughly and couldn't find a single leak.

 

[mejerifly]

One technique to try is to spray water on the ribbed side of the belt with a spray bottle. Then start the car. If the squeal is still there then it's probably a pulley and not the belt. Not sure how accurate that is though. I read that some tundra were having issues with squealing and I think they had to replace the tensioner pulley. The cost was about $95 for the part.

 

[mejerifly]

I should add, to not spray the water with the engine running. The fan would blow it all over the place.

 

[sPaulp]

One technique to try is to spray water on the ribbed side of the belt with a spray bottle. Then start the car. If the squeal is still there then it's probably a pulley and not the belt. Not sure how accurate that is though. I read that some tundra were having issues with squealing and I think they had to replace the tensioner pulley. The cost was about $95 for the part.

I will definitely try that. Although, the belt is brand new, so I suspect that it is not the culprit but certainly worth looking at. Is there only 1 tensioner pulley?

 

[DeckerT4R]

So, last week I heard a slight squeal during cold starts. The squeal is intermittent and very faint. It seems as if something kicks on causing it to start the slight squeal, and then stops whenever "it" kicks off. It is completely eliminated after warm up. I replaced the belt with a new OEM Bando belt a few days ago. Any thoughts what this could be?

Not to state the obvious but the on/off wouldn't be the a/c compressor coming on and off would it?

In my personal experience 90%+ of the time a squealing belt is a tensioner.

 

[mejerifly]

I believe there is one tensioner pulley and one idler pulley.

 

[TexAZ]

How many miles on the truck? It sounds like the tensioner pulley may be loosing tension. The belt only slips when there is a sudden change in drag, and only when cold.
the 5.7 is notorious for squeaking belts when cold, mostly reported in Tundras. One trick I did with the tundra was to buy a belt that is 5mm shorter than stock. It just puts a little more tension on the tensioner spring.

 

[Ali FJ80]

Old trick I use to isolate noises is to use some hollow tubing, pvc or flexible rubber/plastic. With one end by the ear move the other end around and you can generally tell which pulley is the issue. Be mindful of the moving fan.

 

[sPaulp]

How many miles on the truck? It sounds like the tensioner pulley may be loosing tension. The belt only slips when there is a sudden change in drag, and only when cold.
the 5.7 is notorious for squeaking belts when cold, mostly reported in Tundras. One trick I did with the tundra was to buy a belt that is 5mm shorter than stock. It just puts a little more tension on the tensioner spring.

51,700 miles only. I replaced with the OEM belt, but next time I will surely consider the shorter belt. For now, maybe I need to simply replace the idler and tensioner pulley's?

 

[TexAZ]

51K doesn't seem like a lot of miles for a pulley. would be worth the time to pull the belt and feel the pulley turning by hand. see if there is any play in it. spin it by hand. does it free wheel along with no resistance, are there any rough spots in the rotation, does it turn smooth, but stop fairly quickly.
may also try spraying a little brake cleaner on a rag and wiping the pulleys. did you get the engine/truck detailed recently?

 

[sPaulp]

I haven't had the truck detailed in a couple of weeks, but the belt was replaced last Thursday by the dealer. I thought about just going ahead and replacing the idler pulley and tensioner and seeing if that fixes it. If I do and it doesn't, then on to the next pulley I guess. Ugh, I hate these little sounds that drive you bonkers

 

[concretejungle]

I feel silly even searching for this, but my 2015 is just starting to make some belt chirping sounds. The belt does feel just a little loose. It's the original belt. I was going to look and see if there was anywhere to tighten the belt. Mine sounds like it's coming from around the AC compressor.

 

[Markuson]

Old trick I use to isolate noises is to use some hollow tubing, pvc or flexible rubber/plastic. With one end by the ear move the other end around and you can generally tell which pulley is the issue. Be mindful of the moving fan.

Great trick!
Ima try that with my own mystery squeak.

 

[Ali FJ80]

I feel silly even searching for this, but my 2015 is just starting to make some belt chirping sounds. The belt does feel just a little loose. It's the original belt. I was going to look and see if there was anywhere to tighten the belt. Mine sounds like it's coming from around the AC compressor.

There is nowhere to tighten, it has a spring loaded tensioner and only being 3 years old I would be very surprised if it has failed. New belt is probably all you need.

 

[concretejungle]

That's kind of what I thought but wasn't sure. I know my way around my 80 but have hardly popped the hood on the 200.

 

[TeCKis300]

It is possible they damaged the tensioner while changing the belt. Toyota belts are known to easily last 100k miles and more, so interesting it was changed so early?