01 Pathfinder LE 4x4 Squeeking belts

[nnpathy]

Hi Everyone,

new member and have an 01 Pathfinder with 60,000 plus miles. Truck has been driven less than 3,000 miles since last summer and I've recently upgraded tires - assurance triple treads which are great btw for non off road driving. Otherwise truck has been great with no signs of slow windows and does have the cd player problem. stupid clarion. It'll get bypassed via ipod adapter in a few weeks.

Truck recently started to squeek at morning startup - live in chicago. noise is deafening like an angry seagull getting beaten with a stick but then dissappears after warm up. If i can remember it started last summer with a mild chirp to now 2-4 minutes of squeeking and then silence. Anything I can do besides replacing all belts? (OEM of course) or shall I include the tensioner as well? thanks in advance.

[fueler]

You just need a belt adjustment, they stretch over time. If you are mechanically inclined, you can tighten them yourself, I didn't have the time so I just paid my local Nissan specialist $45 to tighten the belts to OEM specs.... took them 20 mins.... voila, no more squeal!

[nnpathy]

thanks, will give that a try - incidentally, 1st snow of the season happened last night and it was good to have the truck in its element with new tires, don't miss the firehawks 500s at all.

[LiquidLunch]

I'm having the same problem. Had the belts changed twice now by two different shops and they still howl like a coyote.

Is there a belt tensioner or something that could be going bad?

[nissandoms47]

Yes. The bearings in your idler pulleys could be dead.

[KoukiS14]

thanks, will give that a try - incidentally, 1st snow of the season happened last night and it was good to have the truck in its element with new tires, don't miss the firehawks 500s at all.

Can't wait to ditch my Bridgestone Dueler H/Ts.

[01pathy007]

Replace your belts ONLY IF YOU SEE CRACKS OR ABRASIONS. It is probably your fan belts. It happened to me a while ago around the 35K mark.

[fueler]

Replace your belts ONLY IF YOU SEE CRACKS OR ABRASIONS.

Well I have to say, definitely replace if u see cracks, but a lot of belts break with no signs of wear at all! Don't rely solely on visual inspection, remember to record mileage too and replace our nissan belts every 110-130k miles

[SnowSurfLax]

Does it howl louder at specific RPM's?

My idler bearings are out and make nasty noise around 2000 RPM. Not a big deal (so my mechanic says) but is annoying until I get around to haveing them replaced.

[88pathoffroad]

Check your harmonic balancer.

When they start to slip they'll squeak. If it's squeaking, it needs to be replaced before it flies off somewhere on down the road.

[nnpathy]

Happy Hollandaise to all. Did get around to buying the 2 Factory serpentine belts from the dealer and after quoting me $160 to replace (a hour and half of labor) I took it to my regular shop and they did it for $30 in 10 minutes. The original belts looked ok with no cracks, but after replacement the truck is back to sounding like a sewing machine.

It only has 60,000 miles so I don't think the idler pulleys/bearings were going bad, just plain old stretching and the fact that the truck had been sitting in storage for a while. Told the guys to tighten accordingly but it seemed easy enough where the auto tensioner may have done the trick. The two new OEM belts ran about $42 some at the dealer.

[nnpathy]

"Can't wait to ditch my Bridgestone Dueler H/Ts. "

Don't miss them at all. Lucky to not have had a flat to use the spare with the factory mounted Dueler. Worst tire ever. The Assurance triple treads have so far been outstanding in rain and snow even in 2w drive. Just ordered em from tirerack. Well worth it plus and they had a $40 gift card offer with a complete set purchase.