I am wondering if anyone else has ever had this situation:

Ever since I swapped a worn-out OEM Continental alternator belt for a new Gates belt (correct size) (Conni was unavailable) I have an intermittent squeal. First guess is a lose belt, but it's not lose.

There is no antifreeze leaking anywhere, so it doesn't appear to be a bad water-pump bearing. The OEM pump has about 85K on it.

After the squealing, the belt is not hot.

So I am wondering if I am missing something, or do the Gates belts have a different side angle from the Connies?

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Don't Chrome them; polish them

spray a little water on the belt to check if the squeal stops for a short while . May be a alignment issue at the alternator side.
ad

I had a the same issue, the shop put a new belt on and I had a noise issue soon after. To fix the problem I ordered a new idler wheel, and tensioner. I spent 4 hrs installing them but the true root cause was excessive play in the idler pulley shaft / wheel compared to the new one. Having just bought the car in june 2011, I can not vouch for it's history but the car has 350,000 km on it and replacing these parts was on my list of to do's anyway. bty 87 300 dsl , good luck Cheers Dave D.
ps added photos in gallery, of eng. bay

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I appreciate the replies.

The squealing happens more when the humidity is high and on the M110 engine, the belt goes directly from the crank, water pump, to the alternator - no idler pully.

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Don't Chrome them; polish them

You can get a stethascope at the local autostore for about $10.00 and touch the end to each component to see if one is louder than the others when it squeels. If not, probably the belt.

After major squealing on Satuday night - very damp and foggy - I found there was still some adjustment available to the alternator belt before becoming too tight, so after tightening, the obnoxious sqealing has finally left me alone.

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Don't Chrome them; polish them