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Re: squealing

To: <tigers@autox.team.net>
Subject: Re: squealing
From: Steve Sage <fastsage@cox.net>
Date: Fri, 17 Jun 2005 10:47:15 -0700
I'll say it once again. What a great list we have here. I've had 
probably 15 replies already about my belt squealing issue, on and off 
the list. I now know more about fan belts and how they work than I ever 
thought I would ever want to know! Thanks to everyone!!

Here's a summary of ideas from the group, and what I found out this 
morning while loosening and tightening both belts.

Ed Esslinger, who also has an A/C'd Tiger, points out again what I think 
he had told me years previously, that for a start, the way my belts are 
routed is not good, and that having the A/C compressor work just off the 
water pump pulley puts too much torque on the belt, if I understand 
correctly. Ultimately, I know I will need to figure a way to change the 
routing and add an "idler" pulley or two, but that will have to wait a 
while, at least until the radiator is out again. I'll have to somehow 
bring the alternator (which sits about where the stock oil filter setup 
used to be) forward about 3/4 of an inch to line up the the crank 
pulley, and as we know there's not much room there already. I don't know 
if that's feasible to do yet. Is there any such thing as a double pulley 
for an alternator? 

Several of you suggested I look at the belts to see if they are glazed, 
or shiny on the side and, if so, this could cause slipping and squealing 
under a load.. I just compared them to a couple of new belts I bought 
and the sides of the old belts do look somewhat shinier than the new 
belts. I'm going to install the new belts tonight, just to see what happens.

I also notice that the brand new fan belts toward their bottom (that 
faces the pulley grooves) have a different material of some sort. The 
sides of the belts there have what looks like a cloth "stitching" on 
them. It looks like this may be designed to help grip on the sides of 
the pulley grooves. My old belts on the car now do not have this, even 
though they're exactly the same brand. It looks like that stitching has 
been worn off, maybe from slipping on the side of the pulley grooves. If 
that's the case, I'm hoping new belts will help.

A couple of other  suggestions were to check to see if the "v" belts sit 
all the way in the pulley grooves.  This seems like it may also be an 
issue. The belt fits deeply into the A/C compressor pulley, but I notice 
that the water pump pulley has deeper grooves in it, and the fan belt 
does not seem to press all the way into the groove. KIs there a brand of 
"V" belts that actually are shaped like a V? My current belts have a 
flat edge to them facing the bottom of the pulley grooves.

The consensus of the comments so far is that my water pump itself is 
probably OK. That will be a relief if that ends up to be the case. I 
think (I hope???) this is true and it makes sense. At higher RPMs 
(3-4000) "goosing" the gas pedal with the A/C on doesn't cause the 
squeal (or rarely does). I would think if the pump is going bad I would 
get the squeal at high RPMSs too, or maybe all the time. Also, when the 
engine is cold and I turn on the A/C, I often get the squeal, even at 
idle. Once the engine is warm (and the belts maybe a bit more flexible 
from the heat?) that one annoyance doesn't happen, until I nail the pedal.

I'll report back to the list after I get the new belts on, in a lot more 
concise manner. I just wanted to adress all the excellent comments you 
have sent back from my question.

Thanks again!!
Steve Sage





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