Belt noise?

[Casey B]

What is the life expectancy on the engine belt? I have an '01 with 62k and the belt started to squeal a little. No noticeable cracks or wear so I got some belt dressing at the local Advance. After spraying the belt noise really intensified and lasted about 5 minutes and it went quiet like normal. 1 month later and a small squeal started again. Same thing, belt dressing, loud for about 5 mins and then quiet.



Could this be a simple tightening or is it time for a new belt? It's really annoying and quite an embarassment with noise coming from under the hood.



Casey

 

[EddieS'04]

IMO...60k is when I change my serpentine belts...even if they look good...

 

[ed petrush]

if they make noise, its worth the cost to replace. 40k miles is usually where most manufactures would suggest when to replace belts. The cracks in the belt if there are any, would be in the ribs on the underside & you usually wouldn't see them unless you reversed the belt. The noise would be enough for me to replace it.

 

[Jacob Dryer]

Right after I bought my trac I had the same problem. I put dressing on and the same thing happened, just got louder.



Turned out the alt was bad, at only 55k miles. So a new alt and a new belt were in order.



Pull the belt off and and spin all the pully's make sure its not more than the belt I guess is what I'm getting at.

 

[V Ro]

is a belt something we can change ourselves? or do we need a gun and some special tools?



Mine is really sqeaky lately

 

[EddieS'04]

You can change the belt by lifting the idler tensioner with a ratchet wrench...be shure and notice the routing in case the tag under the hood is missing...

 

[Jacob Dryer]

I think changing the belt took me a whole 20 minutes. (granted I'm halfway comfortable under the hood of a vehicle) and I had a few beers in me :blink:

 

[Casey B]

I changed it myself. Took me about 10-15 mins. Simpler than I thought it would be. Standard ratchet and a little brain power. Noise is gone.

 

[Derick Cardenas]

my belt i think lasted 5000 kilometers an it started to squeak