Cold Start Squeak

[wallstreet]

Its been below -10C consistently for the past few weeks in Montreal. Every morning, the truck would squeak for a few seconds on cold starting. I asked the dealership to take a look at it and they told me the Serpentine belt was old and needed to be changed.

I got them to replace the Serpentine belt but now the squeaking is even worse. It squeaks for a lot longer upon cold start than it did before. It also squeaks when I turn the steering wheel.

All squeaks stop after a minute of cold starting and never come back until the next morning cold start.

Is this normal or a faulty installation of the Serpentine belt? Did they not tighten it enough? Are the idler pulleys worn? Do brand new belts stretch and get lose during the first few days of install and need tightening? Could it possibly be something else?

Its a stock v8 with 82,000 miles.

 

[Timberline]

The belt is just frozen stiff and squeaks a few revolutions until it thaws out enough to regain flexibility. My Tundra does this all the time. Completely normal at low temperature.

 

[silverfarm]

s belt squeal

I have an '03 4R and recently had the same problem.
There is a service bulletin about tensioner pulley misalignment design resulting in excessive belt deflection that contributes to marked squeal when cold.
Run some searches. The fix is a new tensioner with shim which I held off on.

I checked all pulleys which were fine and finally tried a GoodYear Gatorback Belt and that stopped the noise totally for over a month now. That sticky cross rib design belt did the trick as others have also noted.

 

[wallstreet]

Ran a search and found that the tsb applies only to the V6 model. Mine's a v8. Bummer. I'm going to take it back in and ask the dealership to take a look.

Btw, which store did you buy the Goodyear Gatorback Belt from in Canada?

 

[silverfarm]

Gatorback belt

Got it at PartSource.
GoodLuck.

 

[scottm]

What year? My wife's '03 LC does some sqeaking, I fix it with belt dressing, so it's not a bearing or waterpump. Last about a month. Previous owners had it in for the same thing.

 

[wallstreet]

I took the truck to the dealer and asked him to check if the belt was installed correctly and to check if the bearings were worn out or if the tensioner needed to be replaced. I told him the squeak gets louder when I turn the steering wheel and softer when I don't. After abt a minute, it stops squeaking alltogether.

The tech diagnosed that everything was installed fine and the tension was tight to spec. They didnt see anything wrong with bearings and pulleys. Further, they sprayed something on the serpentine belt, just to be safe.

The next morning, I start the truck and it squeaked exactly like before. What could be wrong? I would like to get the problem fixed while the truck is still under warranty (expires this june!)

2003 v8 4runner with 82,000 miles

 

[PlanetAlaska-]

I took the truck to the dealer and asked him to check if the belt was installed correctly and to check if the bearings were worn out or if the tensioner needed to be replaced. I told him the squeak gets louder when I turn the steering wheel and softer when I don't. After abt a minute, it stops squeaking alltogether.

The tech diagnosed that everything was installed fine and the tension was tight to spec. They didnt see anything wrong with bearings and pulleys. Further, they sprayed something on the serpentine belt, just to be safe.

The next morning, I start the truck and it squeaked exactly like before. What could be wrong? I would like to get the problem fixed while the truck is still under warranty (expires this june!)

2003 v8 4runner with 82,000 miles

I live in Alaska and I have a 2004 and 2008 V8. Winter temperatures easily hit -40F in Fairbanks, but my belts don't squeak.

 

[dannye67]

Belt Squeak

Just had the belt replaced at 105K and wsa okay for a while and started squeaking. Sprayed some cdn tire belt dressing...okay for a 2 days then really started to squeak. If i go to the dealer will cost a lot based on the TSB.

Is getting a better belt than Toyota the answer?


Need help....

 

[DC Dude]

I have an '03 4R and recently had the same problem.
There is a service bulletin about tensioner pulley misalignment design resulting in excessive belt deflection that contributes to marked squeal when cold.
Run some searches. The fix is a new tensioner with shim which I held off on.

I checked all pulleys which were fine and finally tried a GoodYear Gatorback Belt and that stopped the noise totally for over a month now. That sticky cross rib design belt did the trick as others have also noted.

With your '03 T4R, what did the dealer quote you for the service bulletin fix?