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Squeeling Belt Sound When Cold Start


davidv10

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Occasionally when starting up the car i will get a squealing that sounds like it is one of the belts. I lasts about 10 seconds and then stops. This morning i did rev the car up a little in neutral and the tone/pitch of the squeal changed.

 

Any ideas what this could be?

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I have the same problem. Mine is a screeching sound and stops after 10-20 seconds. From what I heard is the pulley and belt. My friends are saying to add some washing up liquid to the belt which would stop the noise. But I'm just going to leave it as it is.

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I had the same issue in the winter of 2014. It gradually got worse and became unbearable after a while so I had it looked at. For me it was worn auxiliary belts, so had those replaced (and re-tensioned?) and the squealing stopped. :thumbs:

 

I have no idea if it's 100% correct, but what my friend said is that the belt is worn and/or not tensioned correctly. In cold weather the belt slips on the pulleys, causing the squeal. Once the belt warms up a bit, it grips the pulleys better and the squealing stops.

 

As I say, no idea if it's correct, but I found it quite fascinating. :)

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Said it recently before, if you leave it the belt will snap eventually. If its your alternator belt this means your battery will eventually go flat and youll end up stranded somewhere.

 

It might just need adjusting but Id get it replaced, they arent expensive :)

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Had this issue a while back. Seems to made worse by a battery at the end of it's life. ie. Wasn't holding much charge so when the car was first started the alternator was under max load to get the battery up to where it should've been.

 

Replaced the battery and tightened the belt. It's been ok for a few years now.

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this comes up a lot. First thing to do is check the tension of your belts. My rule of thumb is if I can twist them much more than 90 degrees they are to loose.

 

Tightening them is a 5-10 minute job if you can get your hands between the radiator and the belts. If you can't you need to get the car up in the air and take off the under tray. Instructions on here.

 

http://www.350z-uk.c...ux-drive-belts/

 

Just start at step 4. I think one of the bolts is left threaded - can't remember which one though (helpful I know).

 

First time I did this I stripped the threads of the tensioner lock doing it up so be careful.

 

Tie some string onto the end of your socket wrench and drape it over the front of the car. Your bound to drop it at some point and this makes finding it again a lot easier!

 

Applying anything to the belts is a very short term fix. If you put any spray on them make sure its silicone based - anything else will wear away the belts even quicker.

Edited by Randy_Baton
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Getting mine done this weekend finally!! So embarrassing starting up the car every time

 

Haha yeh thats why i just got it booked in asap! Its so so embarrassing! It was only doing it occasionally, but now it seems to be every time the engine is stone cold!

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Ok so it turned out to be a rear drive belt causing the squealing.

 

They replaced both belts (seeing as they had the front one off anyway) and everything is perfect again! It only took an hour and so the total cost was only £90...

Edited by davidv10
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  • 3 months later...

The bloody squeeling has come back!! It only happens sometimes though, and when i left it at the garage they couldnt get it to make the noise! Typical! Both the drive belts are brand new, and the tensioner is manual and was fine, so they cant work out what else it could be... Especially as they couldnt make the car make the noise.

 

Anyone have any ideas..?

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The bloody squeeling has come back!! It only happens sometimes though, and when i left it at the garage they couldnt get it to make the noise! Typical! Both the drive belts are brand new, and the tensioner is manual and was fine, so they cant work out what else it could be... Especially as they couldnt make the car make the noise.

 

Anyone have any ideas..?

as inspiral said in an earlier post a dead battery causing high load on the alternator or just high load on the alternator for any reason can make this worse probably shouldn't happen if the belts are in good condition and tensioned correctly but it does :huh:

:)

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Thanks for the infor guys!

 

So i am probably looking at either a new battery or a new pulley wheel...

 

Any ideas as to how to diagnose which it is? As normally it squeels when im moving (always when im going very slowly in 1st or 2nd gear), so would be hard to open the bonnet and check for the noise etc...

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The squealing won't be coming from the battery it will be coming from the alternator pulley/belt. Changing the battery will mean the alternator doesn't have to work as hard so its less prone to squeaking.

 

Changing the battery may alleviate the problem but it won't actually be fixing the cause of the squeaking.

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