Noisy belt

[gtzero]

Hi Everyone,

I'm in need of advice again. I finally got my car back from the bodyshop where it sat for over a year. After Gil helped me with diagnosing a leaking injector, I found out that the car screams (literally) once rpms exceed 4000.

All the belts are tight. Might this just be a case of it sitting so long? Maybe I just need to drive the car?

What do you all think? Thanks in advance,

Manny

[namba209 (R.I.P.)]

I hate to say it Manny, but it could be a bearing in the alternator or water pump going south. Not a good thing. You could possibly try a rust inhibitor behind the alternator pulley in the hope it will wick in to the bearing. HTH.

[timemachine]

Manny,

Depends on what you mean by "screams." Your thread was about a noisy belt. You can fix that easy enough with a replacement. Or, you can do the old trick of putting a dab of grease on a screwdriver and touching it to the belt on either side (don't do this where it can kick or get caught). You should be able to flex the belt a little with your thumb.

Try and determine if the sound isn't coming from the engine. They tend to blow up more than scream, but make sure it's fully oiled. Make sure the mounts are intact and the fan isn't rubbing the shroud. A high rev noise can also come from a water pump or alternator bearing or distributor. Make sure they are all turning. You should be able to listen around to isolate it.

Jim

[dallasmanta]

an old third world country trick was to take a bar of soap and let it rub against the belt with the engine running. If this fixes the screaming then it is time to replace the belt. If is does not fix the screaming then it is more than likely the alt bearing on the front under the pully. Save yourself the aggrivation and take it to a shop that can press the bearing out and replace it . If the noise is from the water pump, it will leak about same time as the noise starts most of the time. Ron

[hrcollinsjr]

an old third world country tick was to take a bar of soap and let it rub against the belt with the engine running. Ron

So THAT'S how they use their soap.

Harold

[gtzero]

Thanks Everyone. I used "belt" because I've heard belts sound like that. But it might not be the belt as some of you have suggested. I'll poke around with a hose to try to locate the source of the "scream".

Thanks again

[tomking]

Take the belt off and run it up to 4K RPM and see if the noise is gone. If gone its at least the belt, the alternator or the water pump.

[gtzero]

It turns out it was the water pump. Thanks everyone for your help. Now I'm back to happily accelerating to redline.