why the hell wont my belt stop squealing?

[luckythirteen13]

ive gone over it time and time again. i dont have any pulleys out of alignment and none of them are seized. how well should the power steering pump spin? it spins easy if i have my hand on it but if i give it a hard spin, it stops as soon as my finger tips stop touching it. unlike the alt that will spin a couple times around with one spin.
ive gotten it pretty quiet. when i used to start it up (before i realized my alt was out of alignment) the belt squeeled so loud for a few seconds then stopped. fixed that but there is still a bit of noise. im running the smallest belt i can. its one of those gator belts that are supposed to grip better then a normal belt. i think part of the blame is a poor design on vortech's part. with the sc on, the tensioner is almost touching the a/c. if it was more in the middle of the a/c bracket and the smog pump instead of all the way to one side, i think the tensioner would have more of an effect
is there something im missing?

 

[Daggar]

Three things come to mind that may or may not help:

You could have a pulley that squeeks when there's tension on it.

You could try an atuomotive stethascope to pin point your problem.

A can of belt dressing might also help you to troubleshoot or at least rule out my first guess.

 

[wild86stang]

I had a very annoying squeeling problem for a while, but as soon as I changed the belt it stopped. I think the edge of the old one got a little worn or scuffed or something. I only have 4 pulleys though (crank, water, idler, and alt), so it was easy for me to determine that my problem was none of the pulleys. Daggar's response was probably enough to answer your question, just thought I'd share in the chance you have a bad belt. I don't like belt dressing though, it makes a mess IMO.

 

[luckythirteen13]

i knew you guys would have an answer for me. :SNSign: ill check it tomorrow with the stethascope tomorrow...to late now. i got one for free and ive been dying to find a use for it i fear its more then one. there are belt shavings on the alt, the smog pump and the power steering pump.

can you give me a product name or at least a brand of "belt dressing". id imagine its supposed to make the belt stickier like the stuff they put on the track. i never knew such a thing existed

 

[HISSIN50]

I used to use dishwashing soap instead of belt dressing. You can get the dressing at the parts store or even wally mart IIRC. You're right - its sticky crap. I wont tell you about how a plastic pulley was cracked once (another car) and would squeal, so I used 3M spray adhesive on the pulley. .

 

[Roland69]

sticky belt dressing is crap IMO tends to attract dirt and dust in no time and chew stuff up.

 

[silverstripes]

Belt dressing in my opinion should be outlawed. Sorry to the supporters but belt dressing came out in the fiftys designed for natural rubber v belts not synthetic rubber serpintine belts. If you want to stop the squeak for a couple of days go ahead and use the dressing and then the problem will increase trifold. The only solution then is to replace the belt and clean the pullies off where the belt dressing got on everything. I run a high end automotive shop and i can't tell u the times a customer has used this usless product only to cost them my labor to clean the entire pulley system and replace the belt.
Belt dressing is for your 5.0hp lawn mower not your 5.0L mustang.

As for your problem with the belt squealing what brand belt are u using?

 

[Daggar]

I'll restate for the those in the back row that missed it the first time:

Belt dressing should only be used for troubleshooting a case like the original poster has. It is not, nor has it ever been intended to be used as a long term fix for ANYTHING. Most times, you'll even see that printed on the can.

At most, it's a short term fix until you can get to where what is broken can be fixed. *If I had an icon of a dead horse being beaten to death, I would post it here*

 

[Euphoric306]

Belt dressing is for your 5.0hp lawn mower not your 5.0L mustang.

my lawnmower has 5.5 hp...

 

[Roland69]

^^^^ must have V-TAK

 

[HISSIN50]

Who is able to use belt dressing as a long term fix in the first place? Do people use it every week or something?

 

[Daggar]

Who is able to use belt dressing as a long term fix in the first place? Do people use it every week or something?

 

[luckythirteen13]

just tested the car. i have a few belts laying around. i tried a standard napa brand belt, started it up and it screamed more then ever (with all pulleys hooked up). i tried another belt that allowed me to bypass the alt and the power steering pump. started it up, reved it, dead silent....no squealing at all. that means my problem is either my alt that is a 3g 150amp that is about a year old and has no play in the pulley at all, or its my power steering pump. the power steering pump has at least an 1/8th of an inch play in the shaft forwards and back. you think thats my problem, a bad power steering pump?
if so, wheres a good place to get a new power steering pump

because of recent electrical problems ive had my alt tested about 4 times and on all those tests, it never made an squealing sounds

 

[HISSIN50]

The PS pump normally or often has some longitudinal play in the shaft. I wouldnt assume that to be it. A mechanic's stethoscope with the stock belt is how I would narrow down the shreik at this point.

Good luck.

 

[luckythirteen13]

i used the stethoscope....it didnt help much. i put it on the ps pump and it was the noisest of all the accesories but it didnt hear any squealing sounds with the stethoscope.

what i dont understand is that when i put on a napa belt it was extremely loud, even at idle, but with the gator belt, it only made noise when reved. dont know if its a factor but normally i run the belt around the crank and water pump oposite as normal...the way you would run it if you were bypassing your smog pump. with it routed the normal way with the napa belt was the worst. the opposite way with a gator belt it was only noisy when reving.

how am i suposed to use the stethoscope? just touch it to the pump and run the car? when i did that it got so loud as the rpms came up i had to pull the probe off the pump.

 

[HISSIN50]

When I have an accessory making noise like that, the stethoscope reveals it quite quickly. I hold the probe (being very careful of MOVING PARTS) against the housing in a couple spots and you can hear the excessive whirring/screeching.

 

[luckythirteen13]

alright, ill try that tomorrow. my sister has a 2.3l and the pump seems to be the same except the pulley is .5" larger. the play in her pulley is about the same but it spins just a little bit easier. not a lot but enough to be noticable. i told my g/f to give it a try without telling her what i thought (so id get an unbiased opinion from her) and she came to the same conclusion as me. if i do get a new ps pump, do you have to bleed the lines like you do with brakes?

 

[HISSIN50]

If a new pump is done, the bleeding is really a non issue. I jack up the front end (so the front tires are in the air. Dont forget Jackstands) and turn the wheel back and forth (dont hit the locks). This bleeds it (the front end in the air takes stress off the PS while you do this - you dont have to do that if you dont want to).

I would recommend renewing hoses while in there. When I did it, a new high pressure hose was 20 bucks (lifetime warranty) and I used bulk hydraulic line to replace the two low pressure hoses (rack to cooler and cooler to pump return). It's 3/8" IIRC.

At a min, I would flush the rack and system out. I pull a return line and put it in a bucket and pour fluid into the pump as it comes out.

Reman'd pump should be 40-60 bucks.

Good luck.

 

[luckythirteen13]

alright, thanks for the help. the stock pump is 14 years old so even if thats not the problem its probably about time to pull it out anyways.

as far as price goes, the 3 places i called, all charge $50-$56 for a new one (maybe reman) but i have to give them my old one in return and they come with a life time warrenty. if i dont give them my old one, its an extra $50


would a low level of ps fluid cause the ps pump to make noise. i havent checked in a while and i know i have a leak near the rack. its way to cold to go out and check the level right now

 

[Roland69]

could it be a the bearring or the spring in the tensioner