Serpentine belt driving me nuts - Toyota GR86, 86, FR-S and Subaru BRZ Forum & Owners Community

Impureclient · 11-19-2020, 05:38 PM

My OEM belt started squealing at 17k miles so I got a new one and that one later started squealing too a few months in so I put aerospace 303 on it and it
quieted it for about 8-9k miles. So at 26k now it started back in so I changed it again but it is squealing immediately.
The dealer says there's something on the belt but on this new one I degreased all the pulleys until they were 100% grease free and put the belt on.
There is nothing wrong with any bearings, tested them all with the belt off. Dealer said to clean the belt with brake cleaner and that made it squeal worse.
He said it could be the tensioner but it's tight and the belt just barely gets on when installing it so it doesn't seem like it's that.

So I gave in again and sprayed Aerospace 303 on it and it's back to quiet.
Any ideas on what is going on here?

humfrz · 11-19-2020, 06:05 PM

Well, I checked with Bubba and he says to apply some belt dressing to the belt.

Also, iffen you don't have any belt dressing on hand, you can use the sap that oozes out of a cherry tree, just grab a ball of it and hold it against the belt as it rotates.

As a bonus, if you find a cured oozing ball, you can chew it like bubble gum.

You're welcome.

It's my nap time. I hope ya'll can get along without me for a couple of hours.

RZNT4R · 11-19-2020, 09:20 PM

Check pulleys for alignment, also, check the alternator pulley to see if the bottom of is grooves is polished.

Seen quite a few alt pulleys worn down with the peaks of the belt squeaking on the bottom of the pulleys grooves. The belt should only touch on the sides of the Vs, never on the tips

Tcoat · 11-19-2020, 11:25 PM

Stop spraying protectant on it.
Check pullies again as RZN said.
If still noisy get some proper belt dressing as Hum said but that is a last ditch option if you can't find root cause.

Ultramaroon · 11-20-2020, 03:00 AM

Check inside the grooves of the belt for hard contaminants like grains of sand. I saved my belt by carefully picking out the shit jammed into it. Was amazed to see how much it had collected. This is now part of my regular maintenance.

11-19-2020, 05:38 PM	#1
Impureclient Banned Join Date: May 2015 Drives: 2015 FR-S Location: NPR, Florida Posts: 2,404 Thanks: 1,802 Thanked 2,903 Times in 1,282 Posts Mentioned: 25 Post(s) Tagged: 2 Thread(s)	Serpentine belt driving me nuts My OEM belt started squealing at 17k miles so I got a new one and that one later started squealing too a few months in so I put aerospace 303 on it and it quieted it for about 8-9k miles. So at 26k now it started back in so I changed it again but it is squealing immediately. The dealer says there's something on the belt but on this new one I degreased all the pulleys until they were 100% grease free and put the belt on. There is nothing wrong with any bearings, tested them all with the belt off. Dealer said to clean the belt with brake cleaner and that made it squeal worse. He said it could be the tensioner but it's tight and the belt just barely gets on when installing it so it doesn't seem like it's that. So I gave in again and sprayed Aerospace 303 on it and it's back to quiet. Any ideas on what is going on here?

11-19-2020, 06:05 PM	#2
humfrz Senior Member Join Date: May 2013 Drives: 2013 FR-S, white, MT Location: Puyallup, WA Posts: 30,409 Thanks: 29,794 Thanked 32,812 Times in 16,830 Posts Mentioned: 715 Post(s) Tagged: 2 Thread(s)	Well, I checked with Bubba and he says to apply some belt dressing to the belt. Also, iffen you don't have any belt dressing on hand, you can use the sap that oozes out of a cherry tree, just grab a ball of it and hold it against the belt as it rotates. As a bonus, if you find a cured oozing ball, you can chew it like bubble gum. You're welcome. It's my nap time. I hope ya'll can get along without me for a couple of hours. Attached Images

11-19-2020, 11:25 PM	#4
Tcoat Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2014 Drives: 2020 Hakone Location: London, Ont Posts: 69,841 Thanks: 61,656 Thanked 108,294 Times in 46,456 Posts Mentioned: 2499 Post(s) Tagged: 50 Thread(s)	Stop spraying protectant on it. Check pullies again as RZN said. If still noisy get some proper belt dressing as Hum said but that is a last ditch option if you can't find root cause. __________________ Racecar spelled backwards is Racecar, because Racecar.

11-20-2020, 03:00 AM	#5
Ultramaroon not playing cards Join Date: Sep 2014 Drives: a 13 e8h frs Location: vantucky, wa Posts: 32,396 Thanks: 53,053 Thanked 37,225 Times in 19,308 Posts Mentioned: 1117 Post(s) Tagged: 9 Thread(s)	Check inside the grooves of the belt for hard contaminants like grains of sand. I saved my belt by carefully picking out the shit jammed into it. Was amazed to see how much it had collected. This is now part of my regular maintenance. __________________ service manuals

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11-19-2020, 09:20 PM	#3
RZNT4R Professional Mechanic Join Date: Apr 2010 Drives: 2017 86 6MT Oceanic Location: Quebec, Canada Posts: 789 Thanks: 17 Thanked 634 Times in 371 Posts Mentioned: 12 Post(s) Tagged: 0 Thread(s)	Check pulleys for alignment, also, check the alternator pulley to see if the bottom of is grooves is polished. Seen quite a few alt pulleys worn down with the peaks of the belt squeaking on the bottom of the pulleys grooves. The belt should only touch on the sides of the Vs, never on the tips

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