Just Changed My Auxilary Belts Now They Squeal

[SargeRX8]

Hey guys, I just changed the 3 belts for AC PS and Alternator. The old ones were worn and not much left in them. I put the old ones on in the past and never had any noise issues. Now these new belts(Bando and Exebelt) give off a squeal on startup and only for about a second. No noise if I turn the wheel left and right, no noise from switch the AC on etc. I don't know which belt it is. Is the sqeual due to under tensioned belt, over tensioned belt or do I need to let the new belts set in?

[NYTSKY]

Need to be tightened.

[mad082]

as above. the belt is too loose

[AngryRB]

what about a small amount of grease? worked on mine, but check the tension again on belts from memory its somting like 8-10mm under 10kg of pressure half way between the pulleys

[mad082]

Don't use grease on rubber. Doesn't do it any good in the long term. You can buy tubes of stuff called dry lube (looks a bit like grease). Use that. Or just tighten the belt a bit more

[SargeRX8]

Back in the day I used soap to cover it up. But since these are new belts they are squealing because I did something wrong. I'll tension them up tomorrow. I'll give them all some pressure see which one feels least ysioned then tighten it up. Cheers guys.

[StevenCJR31]

yep, all the above is correct, the belts are loose, soap may mask the squeeling short term but they will still be loose, DONT use grease as it will be flung around everywhere if you use it and may actually cause a slipping belt to overheat and fail

Edited April 29, 2012 by StevenCJR31

[SargeRX8]

Ok well after closer poking at the belts, AC and alternator seem nice and tight. Powersteering had I kid you not about 2cm of play in it if not more, and I know why. How the f**k do you fit any sort of tool in there to tension up the belt? That 12mm nut on that long ass theaded bolt gives you about 1mm of turn from top, bottom, side. You can't tighten it, I sat there for about 10 minutes, cut my hands open and got about 1 to 2 turns. Ive got a really long eco socket I think they call them(about 15cm long with 13mm one end 12mm the other). I jammed that in there and turned it as much as I could and it still doesn't feel tight enough.

Anyone got any advice? I don't know how or why Nissan made the other two tensioners a piece of piss to work with and this third one decided to troll everyone. You made bro? f**k YEAH I AM PIECE OF SHIT.

Edited April 29, 2012 by SargeRX8

[StevenCJR31]

ive gotten tension on belts before by using a short crowbar, albeit being VERY carefull what the bar rests on , heaps easier than trying to get tension by hand

[SargeRX8]

The problem isn't testing tension its actually doing up that nut on the PS pump. The piece of shit is impossible.

[mad082]

i have a feeling i may have used a long extension on mine when i did it... but it was a looooong time ago now. but i know i did hold the socket to make sure than after i turned, when i swung back to have another go it didn't move, so i got the maximum abount of turn the next time. having a socket with fine rachet increments helps as well.

and the lever thing can sometimes work too if the nut is loose enough that it can be spun by hand when there is no pressure on it. then you only have to use the spanner/socket to do up the last bit

[SargeRX8]

My deepest sockets aren't deep enough. I'm gonna apply tension to it as suggested to see if I can get some turns done by hand

[DVS JEZ]

Its possible the new belt is bigger than the old one, how much did u have to loosen that adjuster when removing the old belt?

[SargeRX8]

The new belt is abit longer, but the right length as per suggested here and in books for my car. I was running a belt off a different car which was 10 shorter than this one.

[SargeRX8]

Just tensioned up all the belts a fair way more(they all seemed alot looser than before...). The PS pump is now tensioned up as much as the bolt can go and still feels pretty loose. Started the car up and no sound so I'm hoping its all done now. If necessary ill get a shorter belt for the PS pump. Cheers for the help guys.