Shame on GM! 6.2 V8 Serpentine Belt

Transient · April 16

I'm keeping this simple and letting the pics do the talking for me. 2020 Silverado Trail Boss LT with 6.2. At about 97,500 miles on the odometer the serpentine belt was squeaking. Other than at initial purchase, the belt was been quiet. At purchase I had a "warranty repair" done where the dealer applied some belt dressing to quiet it down. At this point, even though the owner's manual says to place the serpentine belt at 150,000, I decided i was going to do it at 100,000. When I replaced my spark plugs and wires at 97,500 I also sprayed at stop squeal on the belt. It worked. At that time I noticed fraying on the belt edges. Yesterday I crossed 100,000 miles on the truck, so today I decided to replace both belts. The ac belt was flawless and didn't need replacing, but I figured I'd do both at the same time. In the first picture you'll see the old belt on the left and the new belt on the right. Both are OEM, so this is an apples too apples comparison. I did find fibers from the serpentine belt inside the alternator vent holes at the top. I also replaced the idler pulley. There was a mess of fibers twisted around the bolt on the backside of the pulley.

Edited April 16 by Transient

Transient · April 16

More cell phone pics due to file size restrictions with the forum

Edited April 16 by Transient

asilverblazer · April 17

18 hours ago, Transient said:

At about 97,500 miles on the odometer the serpentine belt was squeaking. When I replaced my spark plugs and wires at 97,500 I also sprayed at stop squeal on the belt. It worked. At that time, I noticed fraying on the belt edges, even though the owner's manual says to replace the serpentine belt at 150,000, I decided I was going to do it at 100,000.

Yep, that belt was wore out. Not sure what to be ashamed about.

Edited April 17 by asilverblazer

davester · April 17

Yes, just because the manual says to replace it at 150k doesn't mean it can't fail before then. Perhaps some pulley failed, some dirt got into it, or the belt just happened to not be made quite as good as the next one on the assembly line.

NavyVette · April 18

On a semi related topic my tires wore out on my 2019 right after I had a sudden loss of air pressure in one tire while driving down the road. Stupid GM!

Transient · April 19

On 4/17/2026 at 7:07 PM, NavyVette said:

On a semi related topic my tires wore out on my 2019 right after I had a sudden loss of air pressure in one tire while driving down the road. Stupid GM!

Not even close to the same thing. That would be negligence on your part. I wasn't negligent. This truck isn't driven hard. I maintain it, and spend the extra money to give it higher quality parts. This truck has less than 100 miles towing, so it's not like it would fall under the extreme category in the owner's manual for the service interval. And, no, a pulley hadn't failed. I checked. If it had, I wouldn't have said a damn thing about the GM's failings with the belt. Going back 6 to 7 years ago, one of the initial complaints about these trucks right off the showroom floor was about the belt squeal and the piss poor response GM had for it. How about misaligned pulleys from the factory? Did you consider that? Probably not, because being a keyboard commando gets you so much more internet cred. You sound like a junior enlisted sailor that took a high interest loan from a bad faith dealer to that said they'd get you a Corvette even though your only an E-1. Yep, I went there. Greetings from NASP.