Noisey Fan belt

Larburlingame · #1 08/19/05, 04:34 PM

The fan belt on my 1997 Dodge Carravan has been sqeeking for a year. I had to have the A/c fixed and they installed a new belt but it sqeeks more now than before.

The belt is tight enough and I have tried belt dressing but that is good for only about a half hour.

Is there anything I can do or its just a matter that some belts sqeek?

WolfWalksSoftly · #2 08/19/05, 06:41 PM

Some old timers use a bar of soap to quit the sqeaking.

Northman · #3 08/19/05, 06:44 PM

There are 2 belts on a 97 Caravan one serpentine and one v-belt. if they replaced the A/C belt, they replaced the v-belt. which means the serpentine belt could be the culprit. it's common for serpentine belts to accumulate small pebbles in the grooves which can be removed (if your doing it yourself) wouldn't reccomend if you bring it to a shop though and it can be time consuming. Therefor not cost effective, just replace it.

Beeman · #4 08/19/05, 06:46 PM

What engine? What type of belt, V-belt or serpentine?

Never use belt dressing on a serpentine belt as it will usually make things worse. Always use a high quality belt, either Gates,Dayco, or Goodyear. Be sure it is their first line belt and not one that's made by those companies in a generic package. If it is a serpentine belt you might have a bad belt tensioner. This is the spring loaded pulley assy. that puts pressure on the belt. Does the A/C cause the belt to squeak? Possibly a problem with A/C causeing too much load on the belt. If the A/C is overcharged with freon or the cooling fan doesn't work properly with the A/C on it can cause high pressure in the A/C system which loads the compressor which is belt driven and in turn loads the belt. Also be sure all pulleys are aligned properly. If anything was removed during any work something might be out of alignment.
If you replace the belt to get good results you should clean every pulley thoroughly, especially if you sprayed belt dressing all of it needs to be cleaned off.

Now for the "just make the noise stop until they leave" tricks of the auto trade. Spraying silicon spray or rubbing the belt with silicon grease will temporarily stop the noise sometimes. Spraying white grease or lubing the belt with a little is about the same. Sprinkling a little cleanser on the groove part of the belt will work sometimes also. An old, messy tip was to put a little brake fluid on the belts, but if you start the car with the hood open brake fluid will fly onto your fenders and surrounding cars fenders and it will remove the paint.

georger · #5 08/19/05, 07:30 PM

My brother is a Chrysler mechanic. Often it's just a minute misalignment between the accessory pulleys which causes this kind of noise.

It's logical to suspect this may be your problem since the A/C system was serviced.

Hip_Shot_Hanna · #6 08/20/05, 03:21 AM

there are things now called "raw edged belts" they have the Rayon or whatever showing on the edge of the belt , thats what makes noise

celticfalcon · #7 08/20/05, 07:42 AM

possable the tennsion(sp) pulley also

Rick · #8 08/20/05, 07:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by celticfalcon

possable the tennsion(sp) pulley also

Does the vehicle have abelt tensioner? If so, that could be the culpret.

Rick

Larburlingame · #9 08/20/05, 09:45 AM

It is a 3.3 liter engine.

I went out this morning to run some errors and I was going to check to see if having the A/C on made a difference. I drove around for an hour and the belt never made a noise! Now I will have to wait for it to start again.