Horrible belt noise on 1.6L 2000 LX

About 6 months ago I noticed I would get a belt squeel when the steering wheel was turned to full right or left. Shortly after as I would be at a stop sign or light, the car would start to lose power and sputter and almost stall out. Found out that my alternator was slowly going dead, so I replaced it which also stopped the belt squeel at full steering wheel turn. Ever since then I have a constant belt squeel at low RPM and low speed and sluggish performance also at low RPM and speed. Once I get to about 30 MPH I let off the accelerator and the belt seems to catch. At that time the squeeling stops and the normal performance is restored. Not too long after the alternator replacement the belt connecting the alternator and another pulley (not sure what that pulley controls) on the block broke. I had the car towed to where my dad sells tires, they were not sure about the squeeling but they replaced the belt and I was on my way. The squeeling, needless to say, did not stop. About a month later the same belt broke again. While at the shop one the mechanics came to the conclusion that it was my A/C clutch going bad inside my condensor. Which is where I start to get lost unless the pulley that im not sure of what it controls, does indeed control the A/C. At the time I did not have the money to replace an A/C condensor so we slapped another belt on it to get by until I got the money put together. Yesterday, the same belt broke again. I have the money now to replace the A/C condensor, so I told them to get it done. I then get a call saying that its not the A/C condensor because the belt that broke is not even connected to the A/C unit. I suspect that the unidentified pulley mentioned earlier is the water pump, because when the belt breaks it throws on my battery light on the dash and the car will start running hot. The squeeling has not stopped and I do not know what the unidentified pulley controls.

By now from getting run around alot I am very stressed and highly irritated. Any help or previous experience would be of great help right now. I want the belt squeeling and breaking to stop and identify the mystery pulley. Thank you.

You should have 2 belts. One runs the ac compressor, not condenser, and the ps pump, the other is the water pump and and the alternator. Im pretty sure there are no automatic tensiners so chances are the s pump pivots to tension that belt and alt pivots for that belt. With belt off, spin all the pulleys, listen for nosie and feel for rough spots in operation. Check the idler pulley. These tend to seize up and break belts. Also, serpentine belts must be installed very tight to ensure they do not squeel. Check the idler pulley and other pulleys, your problem lies there. Also with belt on, make sure all the pulleys line up straight.

The belt is supposed to be fairly tight, but it can be tightened too much. When the water pump goes out, you usually start loosing coolant. At first just a little, then progressively more until the seal is completely trashed. Then the coolant pours out. Do you see a small coolant leak? Did you get a rebuilt alternator or did they give you a REALLY good deal? If you aren't loosing coolant, take the car to the place you bought the alternator and have them check the alternator, it may have a bad bearing in it.
Another thing to check is the tension on the belts. I found that one of the belts has to be adjusted to nearly full tightness when new. When the belt stretches over time, there is no room to adjust it tighter and it slips. This causes it to slip, squeal, then break. It usually takes a few months though. I resolved this problem by using the NAPA store brand belts. The cheaper belts (even those with a 1 year warranty) never last me more than a few months.

You should have 2 belts. One runs the ac compressor, not condenser, and the ps pump, the other is the water pump and and the alternator. Im pretty sure there are no automatic tensiners so chances are the s pump pivots to tension that belt and alt pivots for that belt. With belt off, spin all the pulleys, listen for nosie and feel for rough spots in operation. Check the idler pulley. These tend to seize up and break belts. Also, serpentine belts must be installed very tight to ensure they do not squeel. Check the idler pulley and other pulleys, your problem lies there. Also with belt on, make sure all the pulleys line up straight.


I am having the same problems on my 2000 40K mile Protege...2 broken alt/water pump belts one old and one about 3-4 weeks old. I have replaced both belts Alt/WP and PS/AC and squealing returns. Advanced auto belts (Dayton belt 40350 Alt/WP and 40395 PS/AC) are both slightly too long. The Alt/WP belt has room for adjustment but the PS/AC bottoms out before it tightens up. I am going to install a .500" shorter NAPA (Gates) 40390 on the PS/AC tonight and see it I can get it tight enough. Right now the car does not have a PS/AC belt on it and it still squeals...so that narrows the squealing down to the Alt/WP belt (has broken twice in the last month). I am guessing that either the Alt or water pump is locking up when it gets hot causing the belt to slip, get real hot/melt and then break. What confuses me is sometimes it squeals right away and sometimes you can drive it to the store and back without any squealing?

And for those that keep saying to check the idler/tensioner pulley on all these forums...the car DOES NOT HAVE ONE. Belt adjustment is done on the Alternator and Power Steering Pump mtg. brackets. It only has 5 pulleys total, one is shared (double crankshaft pulley)...Belt #1: Water Pump, Alternator, Crankshaft (double pulley). Belt #2: Power Steering, AC Compressor, Crankshaft (double pulley).

O.K. Guys, here's what I found out:

My daughter brought her 98 Protoge LX over because her A/C compressor had "blown up" internally, locked and fried the belt. (this belt runs the A/C and power steering). I had her bring it over and installed a new belt and told her not to turn on the A/C until I had a chance to locate a new compressor and get it installed. I ran one down on E-Bay and had her come over and I installed it. After all the hoo-ha of swapping the compressor and re-charging the A/C system and getting it all working, low and behold the belts still occasionally squeak or "rumble" intermittently. The only way I could get the darn things to quiet down was to tighten the belts WAY TOO TIGHT!!!! Then there was less squealing, but more squeaking and "rumbling" even when there was no load on the belt. Upon messing around with it for awile, we found that the alternator belt (drives the W/pump also) was also squeaking intermittently when the A/C was on or the headlights were on due to the additional electrical load on the alternator. Once again, the only way to eliminate the majority of the squealing was to over-tighten the belt to what seemed to me to be near the point of breakage.

After all this, the belts still squeak and rumble, sometimes even when not under load. ?????

In desperation, I removed BOTH belts from the engine and took them up to the bench to check, I found no apparent defects, cracks or problems, which was logical because they were both essentially new. I went back to the car and was leaning over the fender contemplating all this when by accident I happened to shine my trouble light directly on the bare pulley on the w/pump. Low and behold, in the bottom of the V-grooves in the pulley itself, some sort of debris (melted rubber/dirt ??? ) was packed into the bottom of the grooves. I got one of my pointed probes and started scraping the crap out of the grooves. It was amazing how much junk I could get out of the V-grooves. Since that particualr pulley was for the water pump, for ease of cleaning, I removed it from the water pump. Back at the bench, I spent the better part of 15 minutes scraping the crap out of the pulley grooves. Once done, I went to the grinder and used the wire brush to completely clean out the grooves.

Returning to the car, I checked the double pulleys down on the crankshaft and found the same condition (only worse). This time rather than removing the pulley from the crank, I simply started the engine, and while idling, I CAREFULLY inserted my "hook" probe into the pulley grooves while spinning. The crap simply flew out of the grooves. Upon looking at what fell on the floor, it looks like pieces of a black rubber band, and and small chunks of rubber mixed with dirt.

It was harder to clean out the grooves on the alternator pulley but I did the best I could with the alternator still on the car, I think I got nearly all of the crap out of the grooves.

Low and behold, after putting it all back on the car and starting it up. NO SQUEAKS. This is even with both belts tightened WAY loose. (even with the A/C AND headlight on).

So, you might want to check this out. It sounds like you may be tightening the belts so much in an attempt to get them to quit squeaking that they are breaking prematurely. It's what I had been doing to try to stop the noise.

I've been working with cars for over 50 years. I was a line mechanic in the Cadillac garage and am restoring two cars presently, but I gotta admit, this was new to me... I have fought with serpentine belts on all my cars. None of which seem to work correctly. Even when I replace belts and tensioners, they still chatter and squeak. I am going to check them for this problem, which I think it may be the root of all this heartburn.

I would tell you that this condition is HARD TO SEE, On my daughter's car, the pully V-grooves ARE NOT rounded in the bottom of the groove. The "V" groove should have a "sharp" bottom. If the grooves are not COMPLETELY clear, then the belt will ride over the debris in the bottom of the groove and not grip the grooves properly.

So get in there and check them closely, sorry, it's not easy to get the junk out of the grooves either. It is darn near hard as a rock.

Do all this, install new belts and tighten them reasonably, and I think you might find a fix for your problem.. I did.

We were all better off with good ol' V-Belts....