1992 Buick LeSabre - Squeaking issue

Hey guys,

Just figured I'd throw this up in here and see if anyone had any ideas as to what could be the issue. I purchased this car just as a dd to drive back and forth from work to save some cash. After I bought it I noticed a minor chirp under the hood (I assumed the belt). Recently the squeak became louder and did not go away. I just recently had it in the garage and asked them to check the belt and make sure it was ok and try to identify where the squeak was coming from. They told me they did not hear anything and that the belt was fine. Yet again it started back up. I went to Advanced Auto and got a can of belt conditioner and sprayed the belt. Squeak went away and I thought all was well. Simple fix right - wrong! This morning I started my car and it now screams while I loud horrible screaching noise. Does anyone have any ideas what could be wrong and if I possibly made it worse? Thanks in advance!

If you couldn't tell I'm definitely not very good with cars.....

 

When u hear the squeak spray some water on the belt with a spray bottle. If the noise goes away, replace the belt. Check the idler pulleys and then take a tooth brush and clean every grooved pulley with brake clean and the brush. Get that crap belt conditioner out of it. You just made the job 3 times harder.
If it doesn't go away then another plan will be needed. You said the noise went away so the indication goes to the belt. It can look fine, feel fine, run fine, and still be noisey.

 

Hey Tacoma Mike,

I appreciate the input. Like I said I'm not very handy or good working on cars. A few people said to grab some lube from wherever and spray it on and it should take away the squeaking. Yeah, it only made it worse. I'll give what you said a try this weekend. Until then I'll just keep it parked but thanks again for the advice.

 

...might check to see if there were any TSBs issued for that particular make/model/year regarding the squeak issue... I had a car that developed an annoying chirp (also from the belt), ...and it turned out there was a TSB for that issue, which called for a re-designed idler pulley, ...after getting that replaced, never had the squeak issue again...

 

If those things aren't it, it could also be the AC compressor clutch. I had a similar issue with my 97 Olds Achieva. Mine had the Quad 4 but the 6 cylinder was also prone to this. It did it even when not using the AC so that was another curveball to me

 

Hey guys - thanks for the feedback. I'm guessing it's just the belt. The smallest amount of water sprayed on it takes it right away and also made it much more bareable to at least drive for the moment. My buddy and I are going to change it this weekend.

 

That's the simple fix, always try that first. I just remember chasing this gremlin in my 1997 Olds Achieva which had the Quad 4 and ended up with that being my issue.

 

Clean all the pulleys with windex and a clean micro fiber rag before installing the new belt.