how do you stop belt squeaking?

[nemesis]

last week i changed the coolant elbows cause they were leaking. i forgot to drain some coolant out. when i pulled off the elbows some coolant gushed out and spilled all over. i think most of the coolant got on the main drive pulley and water pump pulley. now my belt sqeak very loud at a cold start up. the belt seem to quiet down when the car get hotter, but i can still hear it squeaking. i figured by driving around alot the coolant on the pulleys would dry up and stop the squeak, but no. any solution to stop this annoying sound?

 

[UR LOSN]

they have belt dressing at any local parts stores.... or use a little WD-40. this is what I used... and it did the trick.

spray it on both side of the belt....

 

[04CompG]

CRC makes some belt dressing.

 

[Damojo2003]

I just had to deal with a belt squeal and read ALOT of posts on many forums. I always read the one to apply wd-40 to the belt followed by the never do this. I read teh belt dressing is a temp fix and it comes back worse.

Most likely what happened is the coolant got on the pulleys and allowed the belt to slip jsut a little bit. The belt might be glazed and then the only solution would be replace the belt. I would get some good engine cleaner and spray the pullies and belts. Then from what I hear, use white chaulk on the belt while the engine is running on each side to clean the belt. I would use some pliers if you go this route. Again from what I hear if the noise goes away...then it is the belt. Otherwise it is a pulley.

 

[rfmgtp02]

Belt dressing is for v belts not serpentine belts. dont use it

 

[nemesis]

so is it wd-40 what i should use?

 

[2001camaroB4C]

so is it wd-40 what i should use?

I would never put wd40 on my serpentine belt. I mean it relies on friction to spin all of the different pulleys. And someone has said that the coolant made it slip. If coolant made it slip what would wd40 do, it is a lubricant. I have used carb cleaner on a belt that was squeaking to try to clean it off. But Im sure that that is bad for the belt. Also that didnt work it ended up not even being the belt but it was an idler pulley with a bad bearing.

 

[nemesis]

i haven't put any wd40 or any kind of belt dressing on yet. the car is parking in the garage for the winter right now anyway. it's the coolant for sure that make the squeak cause i dump coolant on it when pulling off the elbows. the belt still squeak, but not as loud as before. i'm just hoping the squeak will go away by itself after awhile.