belt squeel 2002 8.1l with ac

454ss · November 22, 2005

2002 2500hd belt squeels, it seems like i heard about using a differant belt than stock to eliminate this but i cant find the thread. Everything is in good working order and alignment of all the pulleys looks good, the stock belt squeeled, replaced with another stock belt and it squeeled, replaced with a goodyear gatorback and it started squeeling after a couple months, its drivivg me crazy. Any help is appreaciated.

GM-Tech · November 22, 2005

Is it a "chirp chirp chirp" noise mostly when first started or is it a constant squeal?

454ss · November 23, 2005

constant chirp chirp chirp when running.

GM-Tech · November 23, 2005

I know you said pulley alignment looks good, but it doesn't take much out of alignment to cause that type of noise. It's very difficult to see.

The best way I've found to fix these is to first find out exactly where the chirp is coming from. It's going to be most pronounced where the belt enters or leaves a pulley. It's going to be one of the pulleys with grooves in it, not one of the smooth pulleys that the back (non-ribbed) side of the belt rides on.

Get yourself a 4 ft. length of heater hose and use it as a stethoscope of sorts. Be careful you don't get whacked by the fan or anything else. Listen real carefully both where the belt enters a pulley and where it exits the pulley, one by one. It's going to be most noticeable at one of them, most likely the power steering pulley.

The P.S. pulley is easy to fix because it's a press fit and can be pulled out or pushed in to achieve the necessary alignment. Other pulleys require that you shim the component, such as an alternator. 99% of the time, it's the P.S. that's the problem pulley.