Weird Squeeling Belt Problem

[Davez69gto]

I sure hope someone out there can help because i have no clue...

Ok well here's the situation. I have a 1985 Pontiac Fiero GT with the 3.8 V6 in it. I've had it for about 3 years now i would say and i use it just to get around. Well here's the thing. A while ago i had a problem with overheating and well i took care of that but sometime around then the belt would slip on the alternator and it would start to squeal. Now this only starts to happen when there is a large draw on the alternator like the headlights or reving it up but until i do either of those things it usually doesn't squeal.
Last night i decided i may want to cross the state in my fiero so i was thinking about what i could do. Currently i don't have the extra money to go out and purchase a new alternator. So i was in the garage and saw the parts from my 69 gto. Well it turns out that the alternator from that fits right on the Fiero with only and extra washer on the shaft. Well i put this on and realized it had the same problem. Only when it had strain on it would the belt squeal. It was a little worse this time and i could tell because when i took my batt charger off it would squeal but when i put it back on it wouldn't. I knocked it down to 40 amps and it didn't squeal as well with the 200 amp car start setting. Basically the battery died b/c i had the car sitting for a while with no attention while i was at college.

I would appriciate anything anyone could tell me about my problem.

Thanks
Dave

['88 Dread GT]

Welcome to the world of V6 Fiero ownership... I have an '88 GT and it squeals for about 10 seconds everytime I start it. It's nice to have the volts guage so I know exactly when it will stop squealing. I was actually considering getting the idler pulley from Rodneydickman.com. Not only is this supposed to solve the squealing problem but will reduce wear on both the alternator and the water pump pulleys as you won't have to tighten too much. I've had to replace two waterpumps in 12 years because of this.

In your case it's squealing a lot after it's been running, correct? That means there's definitly a problem in your charging system. Could be your alternator, starter, loose cables, or bad battery. The voltage regulator is inside the alternator so if that's bad you're looking at a new alternator or if your handy at rebuilding it.

=-Dread