Squeaky belt???

[BBfreak08]

Here’s the deal:

I own a 97 Sentra and live near Chicago, Illinois (Go Bears!!!)

My problem is a loud and obnoxious squeaky belt. I’m not exactly sure which one it is, the serpentine or the fan belt. From listening to it, my guess is it is the fan belt. Also when I’ve had the hood up, the engine running, and the belt squeaking, I sprayed some belt conditioner on it and the squeak went away. Then a couple of hours later the squeak was back. Other symptoms: while the car is idling and I have only the radio on then there is no squeak. However if I turn on the head lights or the heat then the squeak starts. If I turn on the rear defrost then the squeak becomes a squeal! Then as I drive away and get the engine turning then there is a quick loud pitched squeal and the problem goes away until I come to another stop. What could be the problem? Is there something wrong with the belts themselves and I need to replace them or is there not enough power from my battery? I’ve even tried tightening the belt but it still squeaks.

Any thoughts???

[NSR_s30]

The belt can be missing pieces or it can also be stretched out. I'd suggest replacing both belts.

[rcollette]

It's the belt on the alternator. As you increase the load on the alternator, it requires more torque to turn it which causes the belt to slip.

A friend with a Ford probe had this problem. All the tightening in the world didn't help. The pulley on the alternator was "glazed" I think they call it. He had to start the car with all accessories off but eventually, even that didn't work.

We dropped the alternator down. Couldn't get it all the way out though due to either the sway bar or steering or something but at least we could get the pulley face facing the ground and accessible. So we taped a custard cup filled with gas around the pulley while it was still on the alternator. This took some finese, a little bit of spillage and convincing my wife it wouldn't ruin the custard cup.

After that, we wire brushed the pulley, reinstalled and everything has been working since the beginning of the summer.

Unfortuntately, I'm starting to have I think the same problem on my Maxima but things are a lot tighter in there than on his 4 cyl probe. Had the alternator replaced at 60k miles so it shouldn't be glazing. Maybe just needs a little tightening or a better belt. Sucks that its 17 degrees out now and working on it would be a pain.