squeeking belt.. getting worse

[jmac2215]

i thought there was a post about this but couldn't find it. my belt (at least i believe it 's a belt, the noise comes from the front right of the car) squeaks in cold weather, not constant but usually when i turn it on, and then it will do it occasionally as I'm driving, when I'm accelerating while it's squealing it seems to get louder... does anybody know what to do or what it is?

I've tried putting that brake stuff on the belts, but it was really hard to get to the belts so don't know how good of job i did, also i don't know if the belts are tight or not tight enough... mainly because i don't know how tight the belts should be.... HELP!!

 

[ggrab]

My wife's MP3 is also doing this right now. I have had this problem with many other cars over the years and the only permanent solution is to replace the offending belt(s). The squealing starts when the old belts become hard and brittle. Spraying the belts with belt dressing will make the problem go away, but only temporarily. It will return. I have been spraying my wife's belts about once every other week for the past 2 months until I get time to change the belts. If she drove the car any great distance from the house I would bite the bullet and make time to change them immediately, as they are more likely to break once the get hard enough to start squealing regularly. FYI, I had a belt get so old and hard on an '85 Blazer that it slipped to the point that it would not turn the alternator enough to properly charge the battery. It left me stranded at the store when the battery went dead.

 

[amair001]

your not alone, ive got the same problem.. It only happen on cold starts but goes away when the car warms up. Im at 102000 miles and due for a timing belt change. im thinking this will fix the problem.. at least hope so. but i know that having the timeing but changed is quite expensive.. Im thinkin about just buying a used engine from protege garage instaed of having everything replaced... anyone know what the going rate for having a timeing belt replaced is??

 

[ggrab]

your not alone, ive got the same problem.. It only happen on cold starts but goes away when the car warms up. Im at 102000 miles and due for a timing belt change. im thinking this will fix the problem.. at least hope so. but i know that having the timeing but changed is quite expensive.. Im thinkin about just buying a used engine from protege garage instaed of having everything replaced... anyone know what the going rate for having a timeing belt replaced is??

The timing belt is not causing the squealing. The belts that are sqealing are the ribbed belts that run you PS pump, AC Compressor, and Alternator. The squealing that you hear is the slipping of an an old, hardened belt. The timing belt has teeth and does not slip. However, if you are having the timing belt changed, any reputable shop will change the other belts at the same time as they must be removed in order to access the timing belt. Shop rates can vary widely depending upon your area and whether or not you go to a dealer. I would think that you should not pay over $300 to have a timing belt changed. I am not certain what a fair price is though, as I have always done this type of work myself. It will certainly be far less expensive than an engine swap.

FYI - I have not studied the details of the Protege timing belt yet, but on most OHC 4 cyl engines the water pump is driven by the timing belt. Due to the labor involved in accessing the water pump, should it fail later, it is always a good idea to replace the water pump when replacing the timing belt.

 

[amair001]

Yea, i was planning on doing the timing belt water pump and tensionor all at the same time

 

[el_Don]

Replacing the water pump at the same time is good advice. Thanks