Hey guys, the belt on my 91 refuses to stfu with it's chirping.
I've had 3 new belts (Goodyear, Dayco and currently some generic brand from Advance) and after roughly 2 weeks each one would begin to squeek/chirp.
I've tried just about everything to keep it quiet but, noting seems to be a permanent solution.
The tensioner spring seems to still have good resistance and the pulleys clean.
Any ideas before I lose (what's left of) my sanity ?
Thanks much.

 

Are you sure that it's not an accessory making the noise? I had an alternator in my old truck (90 K1500 TBI 350) that had the rear bearing going bad on it. It made no noise until I put a little tension on the belt and then it sounded like nails on a chalkboard. I used a little 3-in-1 oil on the rear bearing, just to see, and it quit. It was quiet until it went out a month later on the way home from a pool tourney, in the snow, at about midnight. Might be worth looking into.

 

Take some heater hose and put it in your ear. Probe around and find where the chirping is coming from. It is a definite possibilty that an accessories bearing has gone bad.

 

When mine did this, started squealing a little bit, on and off one day, I pulled into a parking lot, popped the hood, pressed on the belt(which was fairly old and needed to be changed anyway, but not the problem this time) which seemed ok and wasn't broken. I then shut it up, turned the car on and it started squealing and smoking like a demon. I popped the hood again and found the belt in 2 pieces. The AIR pump had frozen up. 50-60 bucks for a new pump and all was right in the world. Check those accessories!

 

You can get a mechanic stethoscope for about 7 bucks. Use that, works great to listen for odd squeeks and noises.

 

When the original belt started making random chirp noises.. my exact thought were "f-n great.. something else is getting ready to break".
Inspecting the belt, it was dry rotting and cracking so I changed it out with a new goodyear 'high-miler'. Noise situation solved... for almost a month.
I have oiled the bearings on the alt with 30w non-detergent oil and the air pump is somewhere in the landfill. The A/C clutch pully spins free w/o any noise along with the w.p. & p.s.
I took the goodyear back and got a Dayco. 2 weeks later.. chirpity chirpity...
So.. I used wd40 on the belt.. the instant I sprayed the noise went away. Drive, turn the car off.. later... chirp chirp... gaaah
I've also used, Pb blaster, 5w30, auto trans fluid, brake cleaner, carb cleaner, laquer thinner, paint prep wash thinner, white lithium spray, spray paint (...I was running out of things to use), pressure wash, and a few others that escape me at the moment.
The 5w30 was the only one that was effective longer than a day.

So now, I'm on generic belt #3. I hosed al the pulleys down with carb cleaner then gave a final wipe with laquer thinner before putting this last one on. 10 days of peaceful driving
It's wearing very thin on my patience.


Thanks for the ideas so far guys. Any others are welcome as well.

If I make it into my garage tonight, I might pick up a s'scope on the way. Can't hurt for the price anyways... cheaper than all the crap I've sprayed on the belt.

 

Harbor freight has them on sale for 3 bucks this week!

 

Well.. it doesn't seem to be any of the accessories making the noise . The Harbor Freight we have here blows so, no $3 jobbie for me, I had to 'get in the zone'.
Upon paying closer attention though (or, for once), the crank pulley appears to not be on center.. kind of like it wasn't pressed out correctly. Maybe I'll just have to get an el-cheapo underdrive pulley and see what that does. I'm starting to get really sick of this p.o.s. car.

 

For future reference purposes only (because I know it's not a big deal nor does anyone really care)...
It turned out to be the crank pulley.
The grey matter turned slightly today and I remembered I kept the oem pulley from the serp. conversion 'kit' on the 'bird (put an under-d on it) so, I swaped out the OE pulleys on the camaro and low & behold... the crickets are gone!!
I just got back from driving through flooded streets and still no noise!.
I still hate the car but, I'm a little happier now at least

Thanks for the suggestions though, it wasn't the cure guys . I do/did appreciate the help.