Drive belts replaced still gerbils

[bigtimeweb]

WTH?!

I only have gerbils under my hood after it sits overnight and I start it in the morning...and occasionally but not always after its sat in my parking garage after a full days work.

Lasts for about 5 minutes or less of driving then it goes away. Going away is possibly related to the water pump kicking in because I hear a faint pop of something kicking in, and most often it stops.

Noise has been driving me bonkers so I took it in to the stealership yesterday and had them replace the belts...They diagnosed it as the drive belts back in April, Ive just been slack to get it taken care of.

Leaving the stealership for me is always like a 5 year old buying new shoes. They thing they can run faster and jump higher, and I always feel like oo my truck feels stronger! VAROOM!

Anywho - out to run to AutoZone this morning to buy my supplies to paint the drums and the gerbils are there same as ever!



So disappointed.

I have belt conditioner I thought I could try? Would that be worth it or does anyone have some insight on what is going on?

 

[Duhockey]

uhhh.... what the heck are Gerbils?? :wtf:

lol

for the reals, I get its making noises, but Ive never heard it referred to as "gerbils"

LOL

 

[bigtimeweb]

LOL Duhockey

Its what my squeaky belts sound like :naughty:

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But ANYWAY.....HELP! :crybaby:

 

[COShadow]

Pulleys?

 

[Elton H]

some brands of belts just make noise and are they tight enough

 

[Duhockey]

Pulleys?

yeah, I had one that I thought and the dealership told me was a power steering pulley or belt, they tightened it down,

I got to the stop light a block away from the dealer and it started "gerbling" LOL again...

I brought it back and it turned out the lower crank pulley had been tightened wrong when the timing belt was done and it had literally chewed up part of the pulley.

luckily, they had a donor engine onsite and pulled one from that... I still got charged some $$$ , but they took a bunch off cuz they are the ones who did the timing belt and didnt tighten it down right.

possible something like that could be your culprit? I would check all of the pulleys, shake them back and forth see if there are any wiggles.

 

[SkidPalace]

Not sure if mine was related, but I had a squeak which certainly could be described as a gerbil.
I thought it was my S/C nosecone bearing going out, but it turned out that I was simply just low on oil. I was 3/4 quart low and the squeak went away after topping off.
I cringe to think what was getting a lack of lube. It made that noise for weeks.

 

[brian2sun]

Maybe the gerbil is just hungry?? I would take it back to the dealership and tell them they misdiagnosed it and have them fix it or try to get a refund.

 

[Hary Gahtoe]

While you changed your belts its a good practice to clean and rough up the ribbed pulleys with 80-100 grit sandpaper. They get very smooth and need to be scuffed up to get decent grip. Not just one, all of them. Especially the sides or troughs of the ribs in the middle of all the pulleys. Mine was real bad on startup and the power steering could be made to squeal near full lock. New belts, sanded the pulleys and its like new again.
Good Luck.

 

[notrayray]

Which engine?
My guess would be the ac idler pulley bearing.

 

[Blitzkrieg]

Which engine?
My guess would be the ac idler pulley bearing.

+1

Your water pump doesn't "kick in". Its driven by the pulley behind the fan so whenever the motor is running, it is. The A/C compressor however does have a clutch and cycles on and off with the A/C or defroster.

Turn your A/C on. If the "gerbils" stop it's almost certainly your A/C idler pulley (you are putting load on it when the A/C is running.

Also, to one of the above posts - an engine doesn't chirp/cry/or scream because it is 3/4 quart low on oil. ;-) However if you run it low enough it will make a distinctive grinding sound right before it croaks.