I’m looking for technical help or recommendations on: engine belt
Hello again!
Hoping I could please get some recommendations on this noise coming from the belt area and whether I should take any action regarding this.
The noise is worse when the engine is cold but is still faintly present after warming up.
My car is just at the tail end of a 3-month warranty from the second hand dealership. Any thoughts as to if they would repair this if it’s an issue?
Can’t tell much (hear) from that sound clip. A guess would be auxiliary pulley or tensioner pulley squeaking. The surface of the belt visible shows brown, maybe rusty stains, could be from a pulley, then I may be seeing something, the colour that’s normal??
The only way to diagnose is remove the belt temporarily and run the car for a few secs, is the noise still there?
Your post suggests the alternator might actually the one squeaking, because immediately after a cold start it asks for maximum drive power. However this is unlikely because the tensioner is automatic and self-adjusts to prevent a slack belt - the usual cause of a squeak. This pic is from the usual Mellens service sheets.
If a bearing is on its way out, eg alternator, idler, etc, then the simple way to check without running the engine is remove the Auxiliary belt by relieving the tensioner with a suitable long spanner. (But first take a pic of how it was routed, for future reference.)
Then spin each pulley by hand, they should all be free and easy and SILENT, no rumbles, grumbles or clicks, and definitely no wobble or play.
The engine can be run briefly; and if the noise is absent, then it was one of those components driven by the belt.
More risky is to use a stethoscope probe to find the noisiest bit of engine block near a moving object; always make sure someone else is present to pull you out of the engine and apply appropriate aid when/if it all goes wrong.
If you are at all uncertain about doing any of this, ask the garage to do it for you!
