About 3 days after the new water pump the belt started making noise again. So maybe it needed the waterpump and maybe it didn't. It did have a little play when warm. Either way it's got a new one.
Upon further inspection, the new, 1000 mile old belt was not straight. You could see one spot on the belt when it came over the top which jogged forward about 3/32" for 2" then back. In this spot the side of the belt was worn to the thread. It was a Continental belt (Conti-tech or something like that) so I had assumed that nothing could be wrong with it. The car sounded like a rattling piece of junk.
Over the weekend I went to Autozone and picked up their top-of-the-line Goodyear Gatorback for $25 (versus $45 for the Conti). It felt wrong installing a belt with the NASCAR logo on it but the car is now silent.
The moral of the story is don't assume a new part is right.
09-20-2007, 08:58 AM
Linear Mode
