*URGENT HELP NEEDED* squeaking noise / now belt popped off

**asdfroflolmao** · 10-13-2007, 04:59 PM

there is this squeaking sound when engine is first started up for the day. its really loud and the noise pattern does not change throughout idle. when backing out theres a noise. going fowards and when accelerating hitting around and about 2k the pattern changes and it gets faster then after 2k it disappears. it comes back on breaking to about 10-15mph. sometimes after its fully warmed theres no noise but comes on out of the blue and is even louder and after getting off highways and comming to a stop there is no noise but again comes randomly and is even louder.

its a 98 es automatic and only driven locally and sometimes highways.

i hope you guys can help me out

thanks.

**4-G-rim** · 10-13-2007, 06:32 PM

Sounds like your belts are squealing pretty bad. When was the last time you replaced your drive belts, you should have 3 of them....power steering, alternator, and a/c belt. The squealing sound is caused when a belt or pulley are creating friction...whether from a bad belt, or a pulley that isn't spinning freely from bad bearings. There are several things that could cause your problems:

1. One of your belts or more are in need of being replaced. When belts get hold they crack and become hard and brittle.

2. The belts have lost tension..this can happen as the belt gets old too. Also too much tension causes squealing too.

3. From your description of your symptoms...it sounds like something I experienced. Your squealing noise seems to be more prolong than simple lost tension or bad belt. Your crank pulley is most likely your case and should be inspected ASAP and if its the problem..replace is ASAP. If you have oil leaks (especially from the crank seal) or have or had a bad water pump which could of leaked coolant and the crank pulley could of been exposed to coolant, caused the premature deterioration of the rubber insulation. What happens the pulley band seperates from the center core of the pulley and this could results if catostrophic damage...or if you are lucky like me, just a damaged timing cover and some rubbing on the left inner apron.

Check the belts first then the crank pulley. The check the crank pulley, just jack up the left side of the car and you might have to remove the plastic undercover to get a visual of the crank pulley. You should be able to tell if the crank pulley is the cause.

Here is a pic of my crank pulley when is seperated:

**asdfroflolmao** · 10-14-2007, 11:49 AM

wow really fast reply :D thanks. well its not my car... at least not yet and from what i see there should be no leaks cause if it leaked it would drip down onto the floor right? the car has NOTHING changed. from what i know everything is all bone stock except for standard maintainence like oil changes and tires.

im leaning towards #1 and 2 cause #3 sounds too complicated i really hope its not that.

note: i have no experience or tools doing anything with cars. i just wanted to know the reason and how to fix it :P thanks!

**7GProject_4G64** · 10-15-2007, 12:24 AM

Originally Posted by asdfroflolmao

there is this squeaking sound when engine is first started up for the day. its really loud and the noise pattern does not change throughout idle. when backing out theres a noise. going fowards and when accelerating hitting around and about 2k the pattern changes and it gets faster then after 2k it disappears. it comes back on breaking to about 10-15mph. sometimes after its fully warmed theres no noise but comes on out of the blue and is even louder and after getting off highways and comming to a stop there is no noise but again comes randomly and is even louder.

its a 98 es automatic and only driven locally and sometimes highways.

i hope you guys can help me out

thanks.

Same thing happens to me to after I changed the alternator belt. Don't know what is wrong seems like there isn't any leak I'm guess maybe it's on too tight or something. The squeaking sound is so annoying though but it only squeaks when I turn the heat on and have the snow flake looking thing on. And when I press the button to change to the eco or snow flake thing this sound comes on like a thump and click don't know what is the problem but imma look at it more tomorrow but any suggestions on what I should check and do.

**bronxbombr** · 10-15-2007, 10:59 AM

harmonic balancer=crankshaft pulley = must be torqued right.

Squeaking comes mainly from altenator and or A/C belt.

**asdfroflolmao** · 12-23-2007, 04:03 PM

ok update on situation: belt popped off.

it just fell off when tried to start. it didnt snap or break but simply went off. any steps to pop it back on? simple and full tutorial please - tools and steps. :D thanks

**eksz** · 12-23-2007, 11:15 PM

It all depends on which belt popped off.

Basic proceedure: Loosen the mounting brackets and slide the unit (air conditioner, alternator or power steering pump) in towards the center of the motor. Then you slip the belt over the pulleys and pull the unit back and tighten the mounting brackets/bolts.

I am assuming it was the alternator belt as that is the outter most belt if I remember correctly and so should be the only one that can falloff the car completely. I think this requires a 12mm socket or wrench to loosen the mounting bolts. So you loosen the mounting bolts (I believe there are two) and then loosen the bolt in the tensioning bracket. Push the alternator in towards the large pulley. Now slip the belt on. Pull alternator back until the belt is fairly tight (about 1/2 inch of play when you press down forcefully on the belt) and tighten the tensioning bracket bolt first and then mounting bolts. Fan belts are simple stuff. Get a friend who is car savy and have him/her give you a basic familarization of the engine and routine maintenance.

FYI: Copied from another posting:
One other thought on belt squeal. Cheap belts also cause belt squeal.

I routinely replaced the fan belts when I do my timing belts. I changed the belts on my 94 and 98 7g, one after the other. I replaced the fan belts using belts from autozone. The power steering belt squeal could have woke the dead. I tried tightening/losening them, belt dressing, etc. Nothing worked. After messing around with them for a couple of months I bought a new belt from another auto parts store (brand of belt: gates). Haven't had a squeak or a squeal since. jjj

**kolio** · 12-24-2007, 12:55 AM

Originally Posted by asdfroflolmao

ok update on situation: belt popped off.

it just fell off when tried to start. it didnt snap or break but simply went off. any steps to pop it back on? simple and full tutorial please - tools and steps. :D thanks

thats what happend to me, the harmonic balancer is toast. you need a new one

**asdfroflolmao** · 12-24-2007, 09:45 AM

anyone able to identify which belt slipped? might buy a new one and see if someone can fix it but he needs to know which belt or its gonna get towed to some fix place.

pics

**momo21** · 12-24-2007, 12:12 PM

u can easily tell the one on the right... BUT make sure u take it out and see what size it is, when mine got changed for my 94' the sizes are not the same... i beleive there is a 3rd belt as well.

**eksz** · 12-24-2007, 02:30 PM

The alternator belt is on the right. The power steering belt is on the left in your picture. I assume it is the alternator belt that is off. It can be a tight squeeze to slip it out from the engine. Assuming your harmonic balancer is okay (give it a once over) why not just put the belt back on and tighten it?

**asdfroflolmao** · 12-24-2007, 02:41 PM

it seems too jammed between (2nd pic) and i dont have tools or experience to do it. plus i dont want to snap it if its still usable by pulling on it to get it unjammed. as long as i know what belt it is (thank you eksz) now i can try to get someone to come and fix it.

**eksz** · 12-24-2007, 03:38 PM

As the belt is wedged into place you will need to move it one way or the other. Plan to reinstall it or remove it.

To remove it take a large flat tipped screw driver or even the flat side of a crow bar and push one side of the fan belt down until it is flat beside the pulley. Then you should be able to slide it down and out and then off.

If you want to try putting it on instead of replacing it then pull it up towards you until it becomes unstuck. If it wont budge use a flat tipped screwdriver (or crowbar) and press one side down until flat against the pulley and then pull up. If you damage the fan belt then the worse case is the fan belt will cost you $10-$12 for a top of the line gates brand fan belt. If you are going to replace it you could just cut it off with a knife or hacksaw. You can even cut it off and then drive the car somewhere to have them put a new belt on for you as long as your battery is good (FYI: alternator charges the battery. The fan belt turns the alternator so that it charges while the ,motor is running. If the belt is broke then your alternator is not turning so your battery is not being recharged. Your battery will go dead and need to be recharged if you don't get the fan belt replaced fixed.)

I can't really comment on the haromic balancer as I have never had one go bad but do yourself a favor and at least look at it to see if there is anything obviousily wrong with it; cracks, shreds of rubber, loose, etc, before replacing your belt.

Last thoughts: If you are still in school consider an auto shop class. You will learn so much about cars. If you are out of school get a book that the auto shop classes use. The text is writen for the novice and agian you'll learn quite a bit. I've been mesing with cars for 40+ years but I found stuff I did not know when I picked up a shop boof the local tech school uses. If nothing else join a car club. Hanging out with folks who play with their cars is another way to learn.

**ohgrfreak** · 01-21-2008, 07:22 AM

harmonic balancer eh? how much do those run? i have had a similar situation, I just replaced the p/s belt and the alt belt with OEM belts, but they started squealing again lately and the alt belt popped off on the highway randomly. I'm going to limp it to the dealer tomorrow (i don't trust anyone else besides myself to touch my car) and have them mess with it and replace whatever needs replacing, it's too cold to work on this thing myself right now. the alt pulley and the water pump and the p/s pullies all spin freely, so it might be the balancer.

who wants to buy a 97 galant? lol, semi-joke, this is the last straw, the remote locks stopped working, the horn doesn't work at all anymore, it's getting long in the tooth, ect... and now I have to drive my woman's ford focus until payday when i can have my galant fixed.

**7GProject_4G64** · 01-21-2008, 12:59 PM

Looks more like the timing belt but I can also be wrong forgot. But it was pretty easy to put the alternator belt on when I did mines all I used was some wrenchs and a flat srew driver. Wasn't too hard just took kinda long you should get someone to help you do it too cause you need two people to do it.

**silversurfer** · 01-21-2008, 01:49 PM

its your alternator belt! you need one 1/2 in deep 10 - 12mm socket and a ratchet to remove it and install it first remove the tension on the belt on the tensioner next to the alternator(big screw untill enough slack is achieved to re- install the new on , then install the belt and turn the screw clockwise intill the belt is properlt tightened i think its about 1/4 inch deflection which means that it moves either way from center . Good luck its easy at least you dont have to remove the other belt too 8)

**galantsslow** · 01-21-2008, 05:46 PM

i am havign the same problem with my 96 i changed the crank pully it seperated and i changed all 3 belts still sweaking at start when i brake dont know what to do

**ohgrfreak** · 01-21-2008, 08:42 PM

I made an appointment with the dealer, they of course want to have it in their possesion before they give me an estimate, I've seen some balancers online sell in upwards of 100 bucks just for the part, holy cow, let's hope it's not that. It could be a case of it just wasn't tensioned correctly and the belt just wore out super quick because of it. But yeah, I don't trust myself to do it again, lol, so off it goes.

Anyone have any suggestions on how to keep it from overheating without the pump functional? I have to drive it a good distance to the dealer with no power steering, water pump or alternator, should be a fun experience, esp with this snow storm going on today and tomorrow (no fans for heat either to keep the window defrosted, lol).

The actual process of installing the belts in the first place was fairly painless, getting it 100% correct is a whole other deal.

**eksz** · 01-22-2008, 01:38 PM

Are you sure your haromic balancer needs replacement? If so consider picking one up at a junk yard (for next to nothing) assuming you can find a core engine at one. Some of the guys on this site could probably help you out with the part.

If your harmonic balancer is not falling apart then you should be able to install you fan bets and everything should work. The only reason the alternator belt should fall off is if it was loose or one of the pulley was bad. Pulleys don't go bad too often so my guess is it was not tightened up enough. If nothing else, put the alternator belt back on and tighten it up. Now you can at least use you heater fan for your drive to dealer. (I am assuming you are saying you can't use the heater fan because you don't want to use too much power from the battery as the alternator belt is not hooked up and charging things).

I can relate to working outside in the cold. I now live in Helena Montana; 20 below last night. I also use to live in Council Bluffs and spent 6 years in Iowa City so can relate to a midwestern winter.

WarmAndSCSI · 01-22-2008, 02:29 PM

FAN BELTS!? Are you fucking copying this advice off a Google search? 7G's do NOT have a fan belt. They are TRANSVERSELY-MOUNTED ENGINES.

Leave. Now.

This guy is going to go walk into a parts store and ask for a fan belt now. They're going to look at him as if he were a complete idiot because he took the advice of some Internet dumbass. I hope you feel proud.