John Deane

98 mustang gt

Im not a gear head, but I know a little. Here's my problem.... loud squeaking belt.

Typical right. So I replace belt. Still squeaks.

Figured tensioner is original so replaced it. Still squeaks.

Noticed tensioner is maxed out and hitting stop. This seems to avoid the belt from hitting itself.as gar as I know all components are bolted to block. I don't see any other way of adjusting the length of the belt run, in order to allow the tensioner to apply tension without hitting stop.

I'm using a 97.5 length belt.... my only idea is to get shorter belt but I'm concerned that I'm over looking an unseen problem.

Thanks for any help.

John Deane

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dawson1112

First thing I would do is pull the belt and check all the accessory's IE, alternator, power steering, water pump, ac compressor, air pump. Make sure all those pulleys spin free with no bearing noise or resistance. The only one that will have some resistance is the power steering pump, but you should still be able to easily spin it by hand. If any of those are hard to turn by hand it means that the bearings are likely going out and causing the belt to slip.

You should also make sure all the pulleys line up , if one pulley is even a half a rib out of alignment it puts the belt in a bind and can cause squealing.

Also make sure none of the pulleys have burnt rubber in the grooves, or any oil . Make sure they are dry and no coolant is getting on them. A coolant leak will cause slipping and squealing .

Chromeshadow

The main pulley on the crank is probably worn smooth. This can happen when you let the belt slip long enough. You can rough it up with 200 grit sand paper. It will take some time, you need to sand 90 degrees to the pulley, not the same direction that the belt slips. It'll prob take 20 minutes or so. You may need to replace the belt again when you do this. The best thing is to take the pulley off and sand blast it, but you'll need a pulley remover and a sand blaster.