8.1 squeak at start-up

k3500CC8.1 · December 28, 2006

My 2006 8.1 just start squeaking last week. The squeak is not coming from the Allison, but is coming from the belt/pulley area in front of the engine. The squeak does not go away, it is there cold, hot, after 30 minutes of driving. I know the belt isn't dirty, the truck is never out of the garage and has never seen rain or for that matter any water under the hood. The truck is about to turn 3K miles. I had a 2001 8.1L that never squeaked, and it was a daily driver.

Anyone else having/or have heard of this problem? I wondering if GM cut cost somewhere on the pulley/belt system?? Cheaper bearings?? Wouldn''t surprise me.

DiegoYJ · December 28, 2006

I get a squeal at the pulley for the first 5 minutes or so until the truck warms up. There was a TSB issued for it, something about one of the pulleys needs to be moved or something. I took mine to the dealer but the idots put some powder on the belt and ignored the copy of the TSB I gave them. Sure enough a day later it was squealing again, sadly the truck was out of warranty by that time so I got hosed on by the dealership. Big surprise there. But anyway there should be a TSB on the problem, hopefully you can get better help from your dealer than I did.

My 2006 8.1 just start squeaking last week. The squeak is not coming from the Allison, but is coming from the belt/pulley area in front of the engine. The squeak does not go away, it is there cold, hot, after 30 minutes of driving. I know the belt isn't dirty, the truck is never out of the garage and has never seen rain or for that matter any water under the hood. The truck is about to turn 3K miles. I had a 2001 8.1L that never squeaked, and it was a daily driver.

Anyone else having/or have heard of this problem? I wondering if GM cut cost somewhere on the pulley/belt system?? Cheaper bearings?? Wouldn''t surprise me.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

lord-dogbert · December 31, 2006

Dealer replaced my belt and tensioner under GMPP. The squeal was caused by some issue with the tensioner.

I get a squeal at the pulley for the first 5 minutes or so until the truck warms up. There was a TSB issued for it, something about one of the pulleys needs to be moved or something. I took mine to the dealer but the idots put some powder on the belt and ignored the copy of the TSB I gave them. Sure enough a day later it was squealing again, sadly the truck was out of warranty by that time so I got hosed on by the dealership. Big surprise there. But anyway there should be a TSB on the problem, hopefully you can get better help from your dealer than I did.

My 2006 8.1 just start squeaking last week. The squeak is not coming from the Allison, but is coming from the belt/pulley area in front of the engine. The squeak does not go away, it is there cold, hot, after 30 minutes of driving. I know the belt isn't dirty, the truck is never out of the garage and has never seen rain or for that matter any water under the hood. The truck is about to turn 3K miles. I had a 2001 8.1L that never squeaked, and it was a daily driver.

Anyone else having/or have heard of this problem? I wondering if GM cut cost somewhere on the pulley/belt system?? Cheaper bearings?? Wouldn''t surprise me.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

nitronut · December 31, 2006

Dealer replaced my belt and tensioner under GMPP. The squeal was caused by some issue with the tensioner.

I get a squeal at the pulley for the first 5 minutes or so until the truck warms up. There was a TSB issued for it, something about one of the pulleys needs to be moved or something. I took mine to the dealer but the idots put some powder on the belt and ignored the copy of the TSB I gave them. Sure enough a day later it was squealing again, sadly the truck was out of warranty by that time so I got hosed on by the dealership. Big surprise there. But anyway there should be a TSB on the problem, hopefully you can get better help from your dealer than I did.

My 2006 8.1 just start squeaking last week. The squeak is not coming from the Allison, but is coming from the belt/pulley area in front of the engine. The squeak does not go away, it is there cold, hot, after 30 minutes of driving. I know the belt isn't dirty, the truck is never out of the garage and has never seen rain or for that matter any water under the hood. The truck is about to turn 3K miles. I had a 2001 8.1L that never squeaked, and it was a daily driver.

Anyone else having/or have heard of this problem? I wondering if GM cut cost somewhere on the pulley/belt system?? Cheaper bearings?? Wouldn''t surprise me.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

My 8.1 did the same thing. I replaced the factory belt with a Goodyear gatorback and it stopped .

Cheekster96 · December 31, 2006

I have the same squeel coming from my '06 8100 belt tensioner/idler. I squired some WD-40 on it and it goes away, for a day, but comes back and is annoying to do it often.

How does one aquire that TSB (or others for that matter) on the squeeking idler?

Thanks and Happy New Years.

Lee

JasonBr · February 2, 2007

This thread doesn't seem to be THAT old.... so i figured i'd throw in my learnings of the 8.1 squeek. For me, every time its been one of the belts. GM has put out a bulletin on the belts saying in other words that the 8.1 goes through belts quickly. If you have the dealership put the belt on it's warranteed for 40k or 60k. I have a good relationship with the local dealership service dept because every time it starts to squeek i call and tell them it's time for new belts. I had to pay for the belts once after i went out of warranty and that's it. They change them for free now because the belts all come with a warranty.

Moral or story: When 8.1 squeeks, have dealer put on new belts. If they're not free this time, they'll probably be free next time!

THE BIGPUNN · February 3, 2007

im on belt #3 already on my 03 with just over 50k!

MaximumOD · February 9, 2007

I have the same problem again! They replaced the belt and tensioner. I have 5000 miles on it and it's squeaking again.

JoshS · October 12, 2007

Resurrecting this thread from the dead ...

Now that it's been months/years for you people -- have your solutions worked long term? I need to find an answer to this myself. It's driving me nuts.

k3500CC8.1 · October 15, 2007

Resurrecting this thread from the dead ...

Now that it's been months/years for you people -- have your solutions worked long term? I need to find an answer to this myself. It's driving me nuts.

My 06 still squeaks, but it hasn't been out of the garage since May. I'll wait until the first freeze(so most of the bugs get zapped) before I take it to the dealer.

My 01 8100 never had this squeak in the 100K miles I drove it. I think it's a pulley/bearing problem..

81jas · October 17, 2007

My 2006 8.1 just start squeaking last week. The squeak is not coming from the Allison, but is coming from the belt/pulley area in front of the engine. The squeak does not go away, it is there cold, hot, after 30 minutes of driving. I know the belt isn't dirty, the truck is never out of the garage and has never seen rain or for that matter any water under the hood. The truck is about to turn 3K miles. I had a 2001 8.1L that never squeaked, and it was a daily driver.

Anyone else having/or have heard of this problem? I wondering if GM cut cost somewhere on the pulley/belt system?? Cheaper bearings?? Wouldn''t surprise me.

My 2002 2500HD had the same noise. It was the altenator, it still charged but the bearings were going out. I would look at this , it may be your problem. I did the tensioner and the belts , then I changed the altenator and it quit