landon101

hey all i have a 1997 chevy 1500 4x4 5.7 and ive been hearing a loud squeel while idling and driving so i changed the serpentine belt and also the auto adjustment.."pulley"?( not sure exactly what its called) but the one you can leverage down to take off the belt. Is there something im missing what else could the noise still be coming from?

MDTAHOE

Take the belt back off and start the truck, is the noise still there?

landon101

i will try that in the morning, what would be possible issues if it does or doesn't?

oldchevy

Try the idler pulley, the bearing may be going bad. Where did you buy the serpentine belt? I changed mine a while back and the noise got worse. After trying everything I could think of, it turned out that Autozone sold me the wrong belt. A little too long.

grumpychevy

WD40 the front of the alternator and pulley and see if the noise stops. I had this problem and it turne out that a bearing inside the alt was squealing. Had to change the alternator.

landon101

i got mine from orielys, though im pretty sure there the same length i compared the old one and the new one

landon101

one thing i forgot to ad..after i changed the auto adjustment pulley the noise was more consistent, any thoughts?

oldchevy

The auto adjustment pulley is called the tensioner. This means that the problem is more likely in the idler bearing or possibly in the alternator bearing.

RacerX

...even possible, water pump pulley bearing also. Since we arent there we dont know if what you meant is a "squeal" a "squeak" or a "chirp". But all of that could also be a bad water pump bearing too.

cleveland63b

take the belt off and start it like mdtahoe suggested, if its gone spin every pulley by hand. If anything squeaks or growls replace it, try spinning the alternator by hand both directions or sometimes you won't spin it fast enough to hear