Howdy,

Im a guy who has alot of pet peeves (sp?) with noises and whatnot coming from cars. My 97 Z28 has a terrible belt squeek on it and i need someone to help me make it stop. I put belt dressing on it last week and it went away for a week and now its worse than it was before. It sounds like its coming from my alternator or that pulley thats right below it. Some people think its because of my system, but i only have a 300watts RMS (900watts max) amp so i don't think thats it. I know some people on the board said they replaced the tensioner and it fixed the problem...but the belt seemed just right (just enough wiggle) maybe some of yall could help me out?

Thanks for the help in advance,
Dave

 

Replace the belt and if it doesnt go away then work on the tensioner. It should be the belt though.

 

Maybe its just me, but it seems like replacing the belt is a big PITA with little room and alot of covers and whatnot...could i do it in an hour with a screwdriver to pry it on to the last pulley?

Any belt reccomendations by chance? I was thinking about a Goodyear Gator Back, friend has one on an r/t and it sounds nice.

Dave

 

The belt isn't at all bad to change. The screwdriver thing is a bad idea. Put the car up on ramps or jackstands so you'll have better access underneath. Find a wrench that fits the bolt on the tensioner pulley. I don't recollect exactly what size it is. Turn the bolt and the tensioner will release tension from the belt, enabling you to take it off. When putting it on, place it on all pulleys except for one, then turn the tensioner again and slide it on the last pulley, shouldn't take more than pressure from ur fingers.

I believe it took me all of about five or ten minutes to do mine in the driveway. From what I've heard, the gatorback works pretty well. That's what I put on mine, but don't yet have enough milage on it to say how it holds up.

 

Prolly another stupid but common question here, but how long is the belt? And how tight should a new belt...should i be able to wiggle it about an inch from side to side like my current belt? Too lose and im on the side of the road, too tight and it increases the chances of it breaking or putting excessive pressure on the pulley's.

That way i don't have any downtime on my car even though ive gotta clean my garage out tomorrow because its supposed to snow tomorrow night, eek.

Thanks for the help,
Dave

 

It's definitely your belt making the noise as the noise went away, temporarily, when you used belt dressing. Your local parts store can look up the size for you. The belt tensioner automatically sets the belt tension, no adjustment necessary. It's possible that your belt tensioner could fail but it's not a common failure on F-bodies. The tensioner bolt size is a 13mm, you'll need a long handled ratchet or a breaker bar to over come the tensioner spring. It's an easy swap; just pay attention to the routing of the belt; there may be a diagram of the routing under the hood.

 

If your tensioner (or some other pulley) is bad, it will make more of an intermittent noise, while a bad belt will squeal and then just stop if it's not too bad. To check your pulleys, spray WD-40 in the center of each one (don't overspray) and see if the noise goes away. I thought my squeak was from the alternator till WD-40 on the tensioner made the noise go away for a few minutes.

 

Hey,

Thanks for the tips and whatnot. I think im going to buy a gatorback tomorrow after school anyway...my belt is starting to crack a little and its only $20 so if it is something other than the belt, then atleast i know ill have a good belt on, lol.

Supposed to snow tomorrow so, im not sure how long im going to be driving it before it goes in the garage for the winter. All depends when the salt goes on the road.