Belt Squeaking

[janjasric]

It's a 99 taurus se...the belt doesn't squeak when at an idle but when you give it gas it will and it's consistently squeaking while driving. What is this from and what can be done about it?

[shorod]

Welcome to the forum!

You first need to confirm the noise is the belt and not the camshaft position sensor (perform a search on the forum for more details at that). You can confirm the belt as the source by spraying a bit of brake cleaner or similar on the belt while the engine is running. Wear safety glasses and don't stand in an area that the belt could sling the cleaner. If the noise briefly goes away or at least changes, then you are on the right track.

You may have an idler pulley that is in really bad shape, a self tensioner that is not providing enough tension, or a pulley that is close to seizing. Once you determine the belt is the problem, you can remove the belt, then spin each of the pulleys by hand, feeling for one that spins loudly or roughly.

-Rod

[Stinger6969]

I have a sort of similar problem. I have a 93 Taurus GL and it squeaks, but not when accelerating. Sometimes, only sometimes when I start it, it will give this loud squeaking sound for about 30 seconds and then go away. Then when its idleing it has a little bit of a squeak. Does anyone know what I can do about this?

[shorod]

Did you try any of the suggestions above?

-Rod

[tripletdaddy]

Stinger, that sounds very much like a noisy idler pulley or tensioner pulley bearing. I have that on both of my 3.8L engines on the tensioner. I think the pulsating belt aggravates it, accelerates the bearing to do that, but I think the replacements I put in not too long ago must not have been the best of quality, as they started "chirping" sooner than I expected. The only reason I leave them in still is that as soon as the engine speed goes the slightest bit above idle, the "chirping cricket" sound goes away. If they are old/original, 50k or more miles, they may soon need replacement.

[Willyum]

I've found that if you get a "squeak" or "sqeal" when you first start up for a limited period, say 30 seconds or so, is the belt to the alternator. The alternator has a big drag on the belt when it's called upon to replace the start up charge back into the battery.