Serpentine Squeak (1 Viewer)

[pman]

Is a squeaking noise coming from the serpentine belt something serious? I'm looking at buying a 2001 LX and it there is a squeak from the belt. I'm not sure if its the belt itself or a pulley. Anyone know if this could end up being an expensive problem??

Thanks in advance

 

[BEE-JAY42]

It's probably a bearing, if it is an idler bearing it's reasonably cheap and easy to fix, if it's an alternator or A/C compressor bearing it will cost you more.

 

[Liam]

spray some belt dressing on it and see if it goes away. if not, it the idler bearing.

 

[scottm]

Mine squeaks, goes away with belt dressing, comes back in a week or so. I suspect misaligned pulleys, but haven't dug that deep yet. Possibly a coolant leak.

 

[TlcBol]

try whit silicon(gasket maker gray) put some in the inner part of the belt turn the engine and the squeks sut go away if not could be idler pulley or thecioner pulley

 

[scottm]

try whit silicon(gasket maker gray) put some in the inner part of the belt turn the engine and the squeks sut go away if not could be idler pulley or thecioner pulley

That sounds like putting lubricant on the pulley, normally something to be avoided. An old mechanics trick is to slowly pour soapy water on the pulley/belt while the engine is running to remove oil. Of course you'd want to avoid standing in line with the pulleys, it throws a lot of dirty, soapy water around. Belt dressing will stop the squeak if it's the belt squeaking on the pulleys, but not if it's a bearing.

 

[TlcBol]

is not lubrican becouse the silicon thas notdamage the rubert on the belt, it just act like sound insulator

 

[SpokaneLX470]

Silicon spray is perfectly safe. Avoid WD40 for this application.

Another thing to check for when purchasing a used car is the grease on the belts. They sometimes hit it with the spry lubricant when the belts are dry and squeaking.

 

[Liam]

use pig grease....