My 01 Suburban, 5.3L, 33K miles, has developed a nasty belt squeal. It had been only a every once in a while thing but now it never goes away. Am I at the end of the average lifespan for one of these or is there another problem there that I don't know about? In the old days you would just loosen, tighten replace, the offending belt and you were set but this is one of those serpentine, all in one jobs and I would hate to lose it and cause some real damage to the engine. I'm hoping it is just a belt and I can pick one up at NAPA tomorrow and get it changed. thanks Larry
A buddy of mine has a 2001 or 2000 Chevy Suburban and we had to replace the belt too. Hopefully yours is just the belt and not a major issue. Goodluck :TU:
Yes, time to replace the belt. I have had that happen before. A new belt cured it. There is probably a spring loaded idler pulley they you can pull back with a breaker bar to releive tension on the belt to r&r it. You shouldn't need to loosen any bolts. It's tuff getting used to all this late model stuff isn't it? None of the old tricks work anymore. o No:
It looks like I'm off to Napa this morning. I just wish it was going to be warmer than 30 today. Larry
Check that idler pulley closely. If it has any resistance to turning or applying too much or too little tension (usually too little), that will eat up another one. Spin your other accessories while the belt is off, too, just to see if there's anything obvious going on. Nice car, Larry. Love those mid 60's Riv's.
2001 suburban our shop has replaced quite a few belt tensioners lately on the suburban-tahoes. when they lose the ability to keep the serpentine belt tight this will cause a belt noise, even if the belt is new.
I've got an '02 5.3 on the back of my scrap truck right now. It still has the tensioner, etc. If you need any pieces-parts, lemmie know before Monday when it goes to the dump.
We'll I went to Napa and they are out of the one for the 130 amp alt, it'll be in Monday morning so I'll change it then. thanks Larry
Does anyone know if there ended being a solution to the problem? o No: My buddies '01 suburban has the squeak again and were going to replace the belt at least, probably the tensioner too. The tensioner was replaced last time, Feb of this year. This weekend were towing 7,000 back to my place so were going to replace the parts.
belt squeel There have been a few Suburbans in my shop that have had a chronic belt squeel, did everything, belts, tensioners, etc. One particular customer was breaking my balls about it, which I could'nt blame him for, so I finally contacted GM tech assist-they recommended a shorter belt, loss of tension generating squeel - fixed that one. Also, use a straight edge and check pulley alignment, have had two which pwr steering pulley is not far enough back.
I have been chasing this on a 97 for two years, multiple belts, new tension pulley, nothing works. It is temperature dependent also. I can lubricate the belt and it goes away for a while. I had a new power steering pump put on and when I finally gave in and took it to the dealer I asked about the alignment of the pulley on the new pump. I know they have to swap the pulley to the new pump cause I did the first pump myself. It was such a pain I took it to the dealer on the second time around. I figured if they didnt get it back on the pump far enough the alignment could cause it to squeak. The guy at the dealership said it was a possibility but not a sure fix. So I just keep lubricating the pulley. I hate noises like that, everybody looks at you like your some goober that doesnt maintain his vehicles. :af: :af:
squealing belts? Before I retired, I worked on all kinds of belt driven equipment. I once had a belt on a particular piece of equipment, that no matter what I did I couldn't get it to stop squealing. Then an old timer said "put a little brake fluid on it". I brushed a little on, and lo and behold that did the trick. If nothing else works, try it. :Smarty: Tom
The old school "sticky" style belt dressing doesn't work on ribbed serpintine belts. A waxy type substance like beeswax or a bar of soap work better. Cleaning out the debris (known as belt pilling) left in the pulley grooves and surface of the flat idlers will help a little, also.
The '01 suburban made the journey home with only 1 problem, she drank the quart of oil we put in before we headed off. My buddy is taking it into the dealer as it only has 68,000 miles. The suburban did much better towing 7K than i thought, and its 2wd so it tows more than 4wd. I can't imagine what the Duramax is like! :3gears:
