Serpentine Belt

What an appalling design. Ive owned this truck for a year, looking back on its records its had problems with the serpentine since it was new. Previous owner actually included a new belt with it in one of the storage compartments under the seat.

Anyways,

All of the idlers are good, the bearings are smooth with slight resistance (yes I know how a new, good bearing feels so don't question me). The problem is the belt keeps getting glazed on the smooth side. I have to replace it frequently and its not cheap, not to mention its a piss off to be under my truck in cold, rainy, snowy weather doing that.

Today I decided to solve it for good, pressed the bearings out of the idlers and sandblasted the pulleys, scotch brited all of the accessory pulleys, cleaned it all with solvent/degreaser and compressed air. Fire it up and its still chirping.

Any idea's? I can't pin point it with my stethoscope, I really have no idea anymore. Belt is a Dayco poly rib, If I put a slightly used OEM Toyota belt on its worse (its not glazed).

 

is your tensioner puttin enough tension on it? try while its running pull an put more tension on the belt and see it if goes away

 

Good idea^^ but don't touch the belt while running haha. Only try the tighten the belt
More using a wrench/ratchet on the tensioner.

Use a stethoscope to pinpoint the noise. If you cant, replace them or deal with the noise

 

May have found a culprit i'l report back in a half hour if I got it figured out

 

Same issue here, interested in what you find...

Mike

 

Nope. But at least it only squeals above 2000rpm now. I guess I will have to be "that guy" with the squeaky belt. Fed up with working on it for now.

This is with the Defrost turned off also and all electrics off so there's the least load on the belt system, who knows what will happen when I tur everything on.

Im a Toyota guy so its kind of sad to see the drop in quality and lazy design work, the truck has other issues too (cold start piston slap, exhaust flutter under load, loose access cab doors, TSB springs are S shaped) could go on...

 

Maybe you should swap to a gates or gatorback belt.

 

That's the crap toy belts, had the same problem with my wifes corolla, I changed that belt 3 times and it always started up again. I had the dealer check it out and they could not come up with any problems.

 

A scotch-brite pulley is no comparison to a brand new one.

 

have u taken the belt off completly and seen if it still makes noise? just wondering

 

I already bought two new idler pulleys. I just sandblasted them all which normally eliminates any squealing because it takes off the glaze. The accessory pulleys are the ones I scotch brited and cleaned with solvent, they have nothing physically wrong with them, the ribbed side of the belt is not glazed. Its a problem with the idlers, or one idler or something because its the OUTSIDE of the belt that is being glazed.

Im going to buy one more new belt, if it starts squealing again I will just replace everything. Fed up with my expensive little truck sounding like a total pile of shit. I take really good care of this thing, more care than ive ever had to give any of my trouble free Toyota trucks of the past.

I know what has to be done I just can't find a reason to throw any more new parts at it, the tension is in spec, bearings are all good, no red flags.

Edit:

Ive tested it with 3 belts, not one of them is brand new, but one is about as close as you can get, and shows no reason to be making noise. I find a brand new belt will last about 2 months before it starts slipping again. Something is not right.

 

To determine if it's the belt, while the truck is running, lightly apply dish soap to the belt. If the squeeking is gone, it's the belt. If not, check the pully's.

 

^^ trust me, did the on the tundra I had. And if it IS the belt, buy an OEM one from the stealership.

 

How about trying to spray some "belt dressing" on the pulleys and belt....

I stoped my first belt squeal by doing that....(but only for a while)... I then put on a new one...no more squeal......Not enough tension could be an issue, but sounds like you have that one covered....

Good luck....

 

That stuff is for V-Belts, certainly don't want to contaminate it with anything.

I know a new belt will fix it. But who knows how long it will last..

 

"Belt dressing" needs to be banned from this planet. Forever.

 

Seems to me if the belt is becoming glazed it is slipping. Something is causing it to slip or there is not enough tension on the belt.

 

Its glazed again. My truck sounds like a neglected piece of shit.

Next step, throw money at it. Excessive amounts, for parts that should NOT be nearly as expensive as they are. Becoming less and less satisfied with Toyota, and that is frustrating because I don't like any other vehicle manufacturers.

 

lol, i can see you just throwing money at it. Take that, and that. Hows about this lol