I have a 95 T/A and the belt would "chirp" a little, then if I would turn the wheel it would squeel some. I replaced the belt with a new goodyear, gatorback belt. The belt doesn't really make any noise while turning the wheel, however, if I push the clutch in and rev the car up it will squeel for just a second, then it will stop. It doens't do it at idle, and when the car is in gear and driving it doesn't do it. The only time it does it is when I rev the car up a little, and its kind of annoying. Could it be the PS pump or alternator? I will take the belt off and check the pullies and make sure they are clean and turn freeley, but could it be anything else?

Thanks,
Travis

 

checked the fluid level in the power steering reservoir yet?

 

I checked it, and it was a little low. Do you think it being a little low would cause this?

 

Check your belt tensioner pulley. I am actually replacing mine tomorrow with a new one because mine has gotten so old, the spring that acts as the rebound and provides tension to the pulley and belt has lost it's ability to keep the belt tight. To check this you can get underneath the car while the motor is running, put a socket wrench on the bolt that holds the tensioner pulley on, and turn it "I think" counter-clockwise. Basically what that does is forces the pulley down which puts the tension on the belt, and you will see it move. So if there is alot of play in there (I would say about an inch or so) and it stops squeeking, then it's time for a new pulley. They are $30 from Autozone for our LT1's and take about 10 minutes to install.

http://www.autozone.com/selectedZip,.../selectZip.htm

That's what it looks like, except metal. And I would get the metal one if I were you, better quality.

 

Tensioner or PS pump. With the belt off, is the PS pump hard to spin? It should spin relativly easy by hand. Otherwise, it may just be a worn out tensioner. In my experience though, I have never seen the spring wear out in the tensioner. Usually its the bearing that goes out. Check out that too.

 

I will pull the belt back off tomorrow and see how hard the power steering pump is to turn. If it spins pretty easy, I guess it would be the tensioner then? If it would be the power steering pump, how hard are they to replace?

 

Probably wouldnt hurt to clean off all your pullies.They can get dirty or oily with alot of miles.

 

Change the belt tenchener

 

Could be the bearing too..

 

its just strange since it doesn't make the noise when the car is idleing, and when its in gear at a high RPM it doesn't do it, just when I rev it up in neutral, or rev it when the clutch is pushed in.

 

That pretty much gives it away....My belt slipped but i had this cheap unknown belt and as soon as i installed the gatorback the belt never slipped even from the 1-2 shift.

 

If your power steering pump is not excessively loud when you turn, then my vote is for the Gatorback. I had the same problem until I bought one of them....especially in wet weather.

 

I installed a new tensioner on it and the noise is still there. I also just put a gatorback belt on it a couple days ago. The pullies look clean but I will have to double check them. Any other ideas?

 

put some tire chalk on it, youll be able to tell if the pulleys are out of line or not.

 

bet you sounded that one out.