squeal at down shift

S

shawski

New member
Hi all,
Newbie to diagnosing car noises, issues, etc.
This morning on the way to work I down shifted for an offramp from 5th to 3rd. The engine squealed loud. Then the last couple blocks into work every gear was squealing, even reverse when I parallel parked.

I was always taught that was something to do with the belts...

Would you mind sharing your thoughts/experience on this.

Thanks
 
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So...did you check the belts?

Could be a seized idler pulley or something. Take the belts off and see if you can turn all the pulleys (that you can) by hand. If you start the truck back up, will it make the same noise? See if you can look at it when it making the noise to try and pin point where its coming from.
 
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It does sound like you have some sort of belt/ pulley issue but before you start taking things apart feel how tight the belts are, the accessories could have not been tightened enough and over time gotten a little loose. (Nice easy fix)
Another thing to do is just see when the squeal occurs while in neutral and reving the engine. (This is just to be sure it has to do with something in the engine bay)
 
And one more old fart tip! Take a bar of soap (I prefer Ivory! :bounce: ), and VERY CAREFULLY touch it against the sides of the belts, one at a time, while the engine is running, then rev the engine to see if the squealing has gone away. When you find the right belt, you will want to either tighten it up or replace the belt altogether.

Of course, with the low cost of belts anyways, I'd just go ahead and replace 'em all if they haven't been done in a few years.

Again, please be careful if you try this! You can take a finger off if you don't pay attention!
 
Guys,
Thank you!
The engine was fully rebuilt 150 miles ago - belts were new then.
I did fully clean the pulleys on rebuild, tightened the nuts appropriately (so I think).
Belts could be loose? I'll check that first.
I've been driving the 150 miles so far on the new engine and no noise like this yet.

I'll look at the suggestions after work today.

thank you for your time guys.
ps- I'm about to write another thread about old gas and it's relation to a sudden constant engine surging/low idle -- would appreciate your input on that thread too.
 
And of course Ivory is 99.5% pure, so you got that going for you.

I've never heard of soaping a belt, seems to me it would just slip very quietly for a few miles after you washed your hands of it.

I had some Belt Dressing (stickum) Spray deep on the shelf that kept my fingers further away from the windmill of death a couple times I used it for noisy belt drives.

Shaw- tightening the accessory bolts were not my problem, it was tensioning the belt without hulking on the alternator or steering pump that made me wish Toyota was more considerate designing in a lever point.
 
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Way to get her back on the road, glad it was a simple fix, I see you also fixed your surging idle with a simple fix.
 
gtgt_bangbang said:
And of course Ivory is 99.5% pure, so you got that going for you.

I've never heard of soaping a belt, seems to me it would just slip very quietly for a few miles after you washed your hands of it.
Click to expand...

Its not a permanent fix, just a quick test to determine which belt is the issue. Its also non-detrimental to the belt, as it will just clean off after a day or two of driving (especially in rain!).

Its also good for your eyes, as you rub the belt with it, the belt grinds the bar down and soap dust flies everywhere! :tinfoil3:

I know of some people who use spray lube to figure out where the squeal is coming from too, but that stuff just gets everywhere and oil is usually a bad thing for belts, whereas soap is very temporary and doesn't damage the belts at all!

Just touch the belt's sides with the bar while running, if squeal stops, that's your problem child. If not, next belt! Sooner or later you'll find the right one and you can then check the tension. If it continues to squeal, its not the belts!
 
dogojoe96 said:
Way to get her back on the road, glad it was a simple fix, I see you also fixed your surging idle with a simple fix.
Click to expand...

Yeah, knocked 'em both out last night. Thanks for the support!

Next is to rebuild the solenoid. I just ordered the contacts and plunger yesterday from Larry B's in Washington state. Fast shipping, good pricing!
 
Not to scare the shine all out of you, but you should check the fan coupler also. That's the finned round thing the the fan is connected to.

One of the jobs that part does is to help the fan slow down a little more gently when the motor decelerates sharply.

It should be quite stiff to turn and does change a little with temperature. If it were on the verge of locking up, taking all the dampening action out of it, I understand the fan can break free and get intimate with all sorts of things under the hood. It is of course totally possible that the belts were just loose after a little run in lkke you had

Just grab one of the fan blades and try to rotate it, do I need to say motor off of course? You will have to decide if it is "too easy" or "too hard" to turn compared to a few other vehicles you tried, both extremes are unwanted
 
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gtgt_bangbang said:
Just grab one of the fan blades and try to rotate it, do I need to say motor off of course? You will have to decide if it is "too easy" or "too hard" to turn compared to a few other vehicles you tried, both extremes are unwanted
Click to expand...


Well, it IS more fun with the engine running! It's always fun until someone loses an eye, or in this case, a finger or 4!

BWWAAAHAHAHAAHAHAAA!!!!
 
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