1992 Legacy L 2WD w/Squealing Belts

Most likely is the belt needs tighten more. A bearing in one of the accessories could be failing or the harmonic baslancer has seperated. Last two are fairly rare.

John's right - just do make sure you don't indiscriminately tighten the belts too much as that can cause one or more pulley shafts to actually bend (now ask me how I know :)

Once you've established that the tension is right and yet it still squeels, you could use some belt dressing compound to spray on your belt to see if it wants to stop (an in effect see if a bearing might be bad). I've had one car that just would not stop squeeling in winter months, regardless of the tension and condition of the belt. One spritz when it fist made noise did the trick for me for the year.

Remco

I have a friend who has been a mechanic for a long time. He says not to use belt dressing. His solution is to use a little brake fluid. I have not tried it so I personally don't know. I have a 91 Ford van with a 302 and I'm having a problem with a squeeky serpentine belt even after replacing it and the idler pulley/bearing. Just might get around to trying the brake fluid method.

The one tensioner on the 2.2....the one on the left as you sit in the car...is famous for failing. TG

Check the aircon idler pulley. I had to regrease mine. Note that in this case, it's the bearing that squeaked, not the belt.

That's the old school trick -- works as well. I have never heard belt dressing was bad, though. Is that what he's saying? They start making noise is when they get dry so it is more pronounced in wintermonths.

Belt dressing seems to be a great way to get normal belts to start squealing. I haven't heard of brake fluid for it, but silicone lube spray has worked great for me.

I'm pretty sure that's all that belt dressing is, though.

Not sure if you're responding to my post, since you didn't quote---the belt dressing I picked up a few years ago left a sticky, tacky residue.

Tried it on a noisy belt, and sprayed down the one next to it, just for grins. Result, *two* squealing belts!

Well, I guess you could use it as a fly trap now. :) It worked well for me, though.