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OT - Chirping Serpentine Belt

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Dave in GA

Member
I have a '92 Suburban with the 350. For the last couple of years, when I start it cold and the weather is cool and wet and humid, there's a lot of chirping from the serpentine belt. It goes away in 10-15 minutes. I install a new NAPA belt every year which helps for a few weeks, and then the chirping starts again. All of the belt-driven components are fairly new, including the fan clutch, and none of them have signs of bearing failure. What would be causing this noise, and what is the fix?

It might sound like a stupid question, but I've owned a lot of vehicles over the years and never had this problem before.
 
Dave We run in to this quite a bit. I dont know if you have replaced the auto tightner, they can cause the problem you are talking about. Are you using the better belt NAPA sells? The cheeper belts have caused this also.
 
A little liquid rubbing compound drizzled on the belt grooves while running eliminates the noise.
 
I think they call them serpentine belts because they were named after the serpent that invented them. Most of the time when I get noise from them is because I'm getting oil on the pulleys from something. Usually if I wipe the pulleys and belt down with lacquer thinner, the noise quits. Sometimes a little belt dressing is needed too.
 
The pullys have to be in line. Is the tensioner worn allowing the pully to lean? Another common problem is the power steering pully being either too far on or not on far enough, need a puller/installer tool to move the pully on the shaft.
 
Make sure that the large accessory bracket is tight up against the heads (3/8" bolts).

If that bracket 'leans/pulls' forward, even a tiny bit, resulting from the applied tension, it will allow the belt to go out of alignment with the crank pulley and sets up that chirp or squawk.

Allan
 
Something is not quite properly aligned.

I had the same problem on my new NH T4050 tractor but the noise was continuous. Replacing the belt eliminated the noise for about 2 hours.

Replacing the tensioner/idler eliminated the noise.

Dean
 
I have the same problem on a 1990 F150. Checked all pulleys and bearings. New idler pulley and belt. Noise stops for about a week then back to chirping. About to drive me nuts. When hot noise goes away. Have the 300 six in my truck.
 
My 91 F-150 seemed to be imossible to fix. I tried several belts and even had all the pulleys sandblasted thinking they were glazed. In desperation, I installed an expensive new Motorcraft belt and the truck has been silent since.
 
Chirping can be caused by dirt in the pulley grooves. Remove the belt, and clean each grooved pulley with some spray cleaner and a small wire brush (I use one with brass bristles). Install a new belt at this time (I have had good luck with Napa premium belts). This solved the problem on my Dodge 5.9L Cummins until I drove it over a dusty field and it sucked up dirt into the pulley grooves. Now I'm living with a chirpy belt again!
 
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