Belt Squeak Headache

[Maritimer]

OK, I'm slowly learning my lesson--don't go to a garage (money, of course), and don't do it myself (I **** up), but just come here first.

I degreased my engine a few weeks ago, and then my belts started chirping at strange times. So, then I used a belt dressing, and it stopped. But, a few days later they started making a tiny chirp (just slightly quieter than the idle sound of the engine) all the time. It's annoying enough to want to fix.

The belts are under a year old, and I assume now that the dressing made them sticky. WD-40 helped for a few days. I want the easiest, cheapest and permanent way to fix this. I would rather not take the belts off since the mechanic who changed them for me last summer had the truck up and even had to take off the skid plate to get them all done.

 

[IanV]

When I had what I thought was a belt squeal that wouldn't go away it ended up being my fan clutch. I replaced it with an e-fan. Maybe you're running into the same thing?

 

[LittleCaesar]

Do you know which belt the noise is coming from?

I'd suspect that the degreaser compromised one of the belts and the rubber integrity of that belt is gone. Belt dressing is nothing more than a stop gap solution to the problem. Buy a new belt(s). And at the same time clean the pulley(s) with a brass brush. Let them dry, put the new ones on, and you should be good to go. Changing belts, even for a novice, is not hard on this car. With the right tools, it can be done with ease.

 

[Maritimer]

It appears that the degreaser did just that--the belts are really oily/slimy as if they are covered with dirty grease (which they aren't). I took a good look at them when I was putting some grease on the centers of the pulleys. F***ing degreaser is supposed to be friendly and didn't have all the warnings about plastics and rubbers like the other ones. I'm trying to figure out how much other stuff it may have f***ed up.

I wish I could just buy a 2011 and get EVERYTHING done at the stealership.

 

[Dangerous Davis]

Degreaser ruins the rubber

The degreaser compund is bad for the rubber belts and may have ruined them.

I had a belt squeak this winter that I could not get rid of until i replaced all of my belts. I tried replacing them one at a time and ended up doing all of them to finally get rid of the squeal completely.

There are three belts under there and all of them can be replaced in about 45 minutes without removing the skid plate.