02 Pontiac MOntanna

anyone?

Spray some belt dressing on the belt - noise goes away means a major draw on the alternator to me. Possibly a marginal battery/charging system. Take off the drum & look again. Maybe something is loose in there.

I'd guess that you may just have a belt that is making that noise. Why don't you open the hood up when you can hear the noise, spray some "water" on the belt and see if the noise changes or goes away. If it does....you can try a couple of things. You can get yourself a wire brush and carefully use it to clean the ribbed section of the belt while the engine is running. I know that any number of folks on here are going to yell "danger", which is true, but if you use your common sense...it can be done. I've done it for years. If that doesn't work, I'd suggest you change the belt.

As far as the brake noise, that doesn't sound familiar, but there were problems with the emergency brake cable being too loose and the cable inside the drum would bow and contact the heads of the wheels studs inside the drum area. And these vans are known to make grinding noises from the drums brakes on the first two or three stops of the day.

Ian

This van has a service bulleton on the grounding screw of the alternator to get rid of a pulsating lights effect. I can check the alternator when I go get the part.

Guess, what, the wife said oh ya. I used the emergency brake two weeks agao and that's when teh sound started. I pressed it down and let it back up slowly and the sound is gone.

I have noticed that sound. I purchased new shoes once thinking they were going bad when I heard that. I got it all apart and they were good as new. I have noticed it goes away after the first few stops. You hit all these symptoms on the nail!!

I appreciate the advice from both you and Stephen!!

Thanks again....

LS

PS how come DOC couldn't answer these? Where are ya DOC??? hehe