Last spring,when I had the engine out of the car I replaced the belt. Now my car makes a sound that to me sounds like a slipping belt. The belt is new, and seems tight by hand. I applied belt dressing and the noise persists. I tried to tighten it a few times, still squealling. I friend said he thinks it sounds like maybe the bearings going bad on the alternators' belt pulley. The sound is loudest at less than 1500rpm's. Any thoughts? Anything else you can think of that might cause this sound? I got seanery's Fall Color Tour comimng up and I'm leary about heading that far with a possible impending failure of some kind.

Curvie,

I had the same problem on mine. I just had to tighten it to get rid of it.

Mine would howl under 2k and stop after 2500 rpms. Much better now.

The thing is, I remember when I put the new belt on back in april. I remember thinking, "Man, I'd never be able to get the belt this tight with the engine in the car", you know, with the improved access and everything. So, since it started squeaking, I tried to tighted it some more. Well, I tried to tighten it 4 times and it doesn't feel any tighter (which it very possibly is not, due to the difficult access compared to whenI put the belt on), and, of course, it still squeals. What do you think about the alternator bearings theory?

I dunno about that theory.

Curvie,

Got a mechanic's stethoscope? Perfect tool to diagnose a failing alternator bearing. Pop off the side access cover, put that thing on the alternator case, and if it's a bearing you'll know it.

Did you put the large spacer/washer between the impellor (fan) and the hub it bolts to? I bought mine assembled without this spacer and it turned, but it sounded really bad at slow speeds and kind of tapered off running faster.

This is exactly what it sounds like to me since you had the engine out at the time. Did you remove the impellor?

Curvie..

what length belt did you buy ?? Some of them are too long and you end up maxing out the adjuster before the belt is truelly tight.

Pull the belt off and spin the alternator by hand. If it spins really really free and has NO drag on it... replace it before it fails. You might even hear the bad bearing while spinning it.



B

Here's another theory.

I had the same problem that you had and I thought that it was my belt being loose or worn. I tried to tighten it about a dozen times and still couldn't get the squeeking to stop. One day when I was leaning over and cursing at the car I nudged the drivers side carb by accident and the sound changed. So seeing that affected it I nudged the carb again and found that the manifold was a bit loose. Closer inspection revealed a worn intake gasket. After replacing the gasket and tightening things down, the squeeling stopped.

Well, the stethescope revealed the source of the squeal and it surprized me. The squeal is coming from the distributor! Worn bushings?

I dripped a bit of WD 40 down the dizzy shaft and let it ooze down the shaft overnight. When I started it up in the morning the squeak was gone. I will remove the dist. in the off season for proper inspection, cleaning or replacement if necessary. Also, I'll put a can of WD 40 in the toolbox ion the trunk for now. Anybody know anything about a felt pad in there that's supposed to get a drop or two of oil placed on it with each oil change?