Yep, I just installed brand new drive belts, they have a lot of tension, but the alternator belt still squeaks when under load (headlights and misc. electronics on). Any thoughts?
My girlfriend's 2003 Protege5 was squealing on start up, so i bought new belts and got them put on, started it up and it sounded all nice and smoothe...but then i went to get a pizza to celebrate a job well done and as I idled in the drive-thru it just started squealing similar to how it did...
www.mazdas247.com
I'd rather have a squeaky belt than a squealing alternator bearing...
I've recently had experiences with both loose and over-tightened serpentine belts and I find this thread funny.
I replaced both the serpentine belts on my Protege5 about a month ago. Tightened them to what I thought was close to the factory spec, and yet when the car is cold, they squeal. I'm guessing I just need to make them a bit tighter.
On the other hand, I replaced the serpentine belts on my parent's 00 Civic and I must have tightened them too much. A few months later, the bolt on the crank pulley (harmonic balancer) backed itself out and the pulley actually came off the crank while the engine was running, braking the key and gouging the key-slot in the end of the crank and in the pulley. Not worth replacing the crank on a $200 engine, so I JB-welded a new key in the slot and bought a new pulley. Haven't started it yet but I figure if it doesn't hold, it's a new engine or new car for them. This is by-far a worst-case scenario though.
All that to say, sometimes it's challenging to get the tension correct, but try not go too tight, (whatever too tight is )