Gates Belt Squeak

[demarpaint]

I typically install belts run the engine for about 20 minutes or so and tighten them up again, they do stretch. I'd try tightening the belt again, if that doesn't work I'd give the di-electric grease a shot before tossing the belt, if that's what you have in mind. JMO

 

[Merkava_4]

Originally Posted By: Vikas
NO BELT DRESSING EVER!!!!


+1 that stuff is horrible. What you'll end up with is pieces of the belt in the form of black
rubbery powder (that's also very sticky) sprayed all over the engine compartment.

 

[Boss302fan]

Originally Posted By: demarpaint
I typically install belts run the engine for about 20 minutes or so and tighten them up again, they do stretch. I'd try tightening the belt again, if that doesn't work I'd give the di-electric grease a shot before tossing the belt, if that's what you have in mind. JMO


I agree.

 

[Carbon]

Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
Originally Posted By: Vikas
NO BELT DRESSING EVER!!!!


+1 that stuff is horrible. What you'll end up with is pieces of the belt in the form of black
rubbery powder (that's also very sticky) sprayed all over the engine compartment.

I used belt dressing successfully to fight a glazed pulley and belt back when it came in a tube. A compound to increase friction seems much to make more sense to me than a grease.

 

[The Critic]

Originally Posted By: KrisZ
I'm pretty sure you have to loosen the bottom alternator bolt first, otherwise you will not move that alternator much further, at least that was the case with my in-laws Echo.


You know, I was lazy when I initially installed the belt so I marked the orientation of the bolt to the bracket and simply moved the alternator back to that spot with this new belt. I moved the alternator while the bottom bolt was in and the top bolt was out; by doing so, the alternator would not move much beyond that "original" spot. The belt felt fine so I didn't think much of it.

Do you guys think the belt can still be saved or should I just toss it and install this genuine belt that I got?

Originally Posted By: demarpaint
I typically install belts run the engine for about 20 minutes or so and tighten them up again, they do stretch. I'd try tightening the belt again, if that doesn't work I'd give the di-electric grease a shot before tossing the belt, if that's what you have in mind. JMO

Weird, I did exactly that during the initial installation.

 

[The Critic]

Update.

Removed the old Gates belt tonight. It had about 4,000 miles on it.

Does this belt look glazed? The smooth side of the belt had those "trails" and the were quite shiny.

I installed a new bando genuine Toyota belt. It was priced outrageously at about 3x the price of the aftermarket one. This time, I tightened it must tighter (have to push down hard for a little deflection) so hopefully I won't have issues this time.

 

[doitmyself]

Kind of injects a bit of reality into your recent thread saying that you can often get dealer parts at the same price as aftermarket.

As diyers, I think we often lean on the side of better safe than sorry. I bet a bunch of "real" mechanics would have re-used the old belt and just tightened it up.

Us diyers anal-yze the situation and say "it's been squeaking/slipping awhile....maybe glazed/hardened a bit. I've got xxx dollars of pulleys and bearings that could be ruined by over tightening to offset the problem. Probably safer to invest in a new belt rather than risk more costly repairs.

It's always a judgement call, I guess. I had the same situation recently when my serpentine tensioner went bad 9 months after belt replacement and I drove it a few weeks with a bit of a squeal....the old belt looked good, but I replaced it with the new tensioner.

FYI - I had my buddies run your finger print photo thru their crime lab and they have identified you as a possible suspect that has been opening up German Castrol bottles in Autozones and sniffing the contents. The SWAT team is assembling outside your door as I type.

 

[Drew99GT]

You have to look at the side of the ridges on the belt; that's where it grips the pullies. The pullies themselves will glaze up as well sometimes when a belt squeals a lot. I had to rough the power steering pulley up with steel wool to get it to not squeal. But I doubt you'll have that problem since the Echo isn't that old and you caught the squealing in time.