I have 12,000 miles on my 03 Wrangler and now noticed only during the first five or so minutes after a cold start, there is a chirping, squeaking sound from my belt and pulley area. It goes away after it is warmed up. The belt does not appear to have dirt or grime on it however the automatic tensioner mark is at the middle between the I and II settings. How can I get rid of this loud annoying noise short of replacing the belt?
Assuming the belt is still good (it should be at only 12,000 miles), it may just be stretching out some and slipping on startup.
Ok I tried to hit cancel but missed. My previous post was based on having a regular manual tensioner pulley. Half-way through writing I realized that if you have an "automatic tensioner", then it may work completely differently. Which is why there is a half-written sentence in the middle of my paragraph. Oops!
Belts get polished up and go bad. Mud, aka liquid sand paper is good for that. I eat 3 or more belts a year when mud running.
Hey the belt is still tight and looks good, it just won't grab anymore.
I test mine by trying to hand slip the alternator pulley when cold and off. if I can make it slip by hand, it will slip under load.
Mike
86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT'sTom C wrote:
Way back when, I occasionally used a spray on belt dressing for that start up squeal ... and I actually used some applied very carefully to on an old VCR to bring it back to life.
If you are sure it is tight enough, spray on a little belt dressing. It needs to be re-applied every so-often, but is cheaper than a new belt.
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