another belt squeal...............thread

[worangejuice]

'87 325 180k
So I did some "preventive maintenance':curse: and sprayed some belt dressing on my belts. Consequently I now have a horendous squeal.
The PS belt was loose so I tightened that up. The belt was slipping and the teeth seemed a little worn.
But now the squeal turns into a low 'whistle'.
covered pulleys in grease and all is tight.
Seems to squeal under load in first and in low rpms.
The alternator is tight on its bracket, the alternator seems to bend in a bit towards the front of car.
It maybe a bad bushing or bearing the alternator.
Anybody found a solution through this common problem?
Thanks

[dnguyen1963]

New belts?

[worangejuice]

the alternator belt looks new, long teeth, the ps belt looks a little low. and ac belt is not even used but still good and tight. I guess start and go through the checks.///////

[dnguyen1963]

Dressing the belts only masks the problems. Belts are cheap and if they make noise you should replace them. Make sure that all the components are aligned correctly...nothing is bent or loose.

[Varinn]

You probably have a crank seal leak, or some other oil leak that's letting oil drip on the crank pulley. The teeth on a v belt are not teeth, but allow the belt to bend around pulley's better, all v belts use the side flanks for grip and need strong friction to transfer energy. Oil removes this

PS: in my millwright courses I was always told that belt dressing destroys the factory coatings on most v belts and actually reduces belt life by letting moisture into the cords in the belt. The cords are the white strings that actually contain the belts tensile strength.

Replace your belts, brake clean the pulleys, check for front end oil leaks