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Puddle-induced Squealling

S

Snipey

Veteran CEG'er
Joined
Dec 12, 2004
Messages
819
Location
Springfield, Ma
So I did some reading from searching and it is clear that a squealing belt is common after hitting a big puddle, especially if the splash-guard is non-existant. It's a 'whining' squeal and speeds up/gets louder with RPM's.

My question is: how long does the squeal last, and should I worry about it being replaced, or is there something else I should check? It is a pretty new 'gator' belt.

2 Full days have passed and the squeal is still around, and i have a ~100 mile trip coming up, and i'm not looking for any unexpected encounters. Any advice would be teriffic. Thanks-
 
i did have the same problem in the winter on a slushy day, but that only lasted a day or so.

but the puddle on friday was massive. came out of nowhere after a turn and it caught the mirko/skidplate. somehow managed to bend the skidplate even though i slowed to ~25 before impact.

the past 2 days have been dry and hot, and the car has definitely been warmed up and driven plenty. ive even opened the hood up overnight to let it air out.

performance does not seem at all affected, no codes, nothing else weird besides the pipsqueak turbo noise.
 
i guess the next thing would be to try some sorta lubricant. i dont remember which one ppl use to quiet down belt noises. i'm sure if u called auto stores, they'd point u in the right direction.
 
Welp, a healthy dose of 'belt dressing' and the sound is still just as alive as ever.

without getting under it, the sound does appear to be coming more from the rear of the engine (firewall side)

thinking back, i believe the belt did make a much quieter version of this noise just after it was installed, but it faded away. i will just keep an eye on it, hopefully its not going to get any worse..
 
new belts tend the make noise for a little while until its been used for days-couple weeks. So you hit the puddle and this happened? has it happened before when you hit a puddle?
 
sounds more like your issue is a failing tensioner/idler pulley the water probably got up in the bearings and jacked them all up, if the belt is continuing to squeal days later you have a mechanical issue. Pull the belt off and inspect for cracking, and if the belt checks out okay then start spinning all of the pulleys on the motor by hand and find the one thats making noise, if none of those are making noise check the tensioner to see if it still has tight spring action going on, if its not tight, your culprit is the tensioner :cool:
 
mnewxcv said:
new belts tend the make noise for a little while until its been used for days-couple weeks. So you hit the puddle and this happened? has it happened before when you hit a puddle?
Click to expand...


it had a couple times during the winter, on slushy occasions. the squeal did last a day or 2 and sounded the exact same, but this one is already 5 days in, during the summer.

as far as the belt, it looked great when i was lubing it up, but I will not have a chance to get it off and check the pulleys until after the 250mile round trip. hopefully it will hang on in the mean time...
 
AliasJerk is right. The noise should stop from being flooded by water in less than a minute, if not, evidence of a tensioner getting loose. Notice it was getting close anyway, a normal tensioner will pull belt tight enough to burn off the water right away. Or a pulley going bad. I have seen a rare occasion where pulley groove stacked up with dirt to slightly lift up belt to where sides couldn't lock in to grab. At first look, pulley looked primo, but closer inspection showed a small amount of dirt impacted in like concrete. Very hard to remove it but once done no squeaking at all, car had done it for a long time before.
 
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