:rofl:

wow, that really sucks, but glad you found the problem.

 

I had a similar issue happen one time. I did not replace every pulley though :teehee: I purchased another belt and the squeak went away. Three weeks later it started squeaking even louder. So i put the old one back on again because i just had to see what sound it would make (i am like that lol) just a little squeak every now and again so i left that belt on. Long story short i was driving down the highway and the power steering pulley imploded causing all kinds of damage. Fixed the issues and to this day my belt will still squeak a little bit when it feels like it. :laugh:

 

holy cow bat man!

thats an expensive fix!

lol

 

My ZJ is squeaking at turning, when slowing down etc. I had the water pump go replaced it made less of a squeak.. but we had to take the belt off and put it back on. Now i thought it was the power steering pump... when jesus its the damn serpentine belt.

YES!

 

I bet that it will return, and it is probably the power steering pump. My 97 ZJ pump died in a blaze of glory in downtown DC at 216K miles at ten years old. If you are at 250K miles, you are due. I would replace it now.

 

Next time start the Jeep for a few seconds with the belt removed, that will tell you if it's the belt or not.

 

???????? No belt, engine running, no pullies, water pump, power steering pump, or A/c compressor turning, how is this going to tell you it is not the belt?

 

Sounds Familiar, it's never what you think:

I had a squeak,
drove me nuts for ten weeks
I told my girl I thought it was the tensioner,
she said never agian to metion it to her,
I replaced the alternator because I got the lifetime warranty
that did'nt do it, so I replaced the Idler pulley
I still had the squeak so what did I do?
I replaced the Tensioner with one less improved,
still it was squeaking, and in the end
I sprayed some TFL dry lube and it was quiet again.

And a week later it needed a new belt.

 

Great story

I replaced my belt and picked up a small squeel which rapidly increased to the slaughtering point. I was getting ready to replace my water pump thinking the bearing were shot. When I remembered seeing an article about a serpentine belt issue. Well yours isn't the one I original read, but I tell you I enjoy reading it. Thanks for the info and the laugh. After reading your post I tightened my belt an no more slaughtering pigs.:2thumbsup:

 

I had the belt squealing followed by the power steering pulley implosion, and then discovered that the culprit to bot problems was actually the power steering pump bracket cracked causing a slight pulley misalignment. after replacing the power steering pump bracket I get no squealing even with a cheap serpentine belt.

ps if you have had the belt squealing problem on a 5.2l zj I would be willing to bet that at some point you will have the power steering pulley issue and most likely your ps pump bracket will eventually fail, as there was a design flaw in the bracket (as admitted by dc when they redesigned the bracket)

 

i bought a cheap belt and a week later it started to squeal, so i took it off and got a new one and i noticed the new one was about 4 inches shorter, so i figured they gave me the wrong one, so i put the new one on and all was good, and a couples weeks later it started to squeal again, so i looked and the tensioner is maxed out and not keeping enough tension on it. sure enough the belt was about 5 inches longer that is should be, they kept stretching, so now i have a 120$ gatorback on it and i haven't had any issues yet, so i have learnt to not cheap out on parts.

 

so now i have a 120$ gatorback on it

Good lord is that what a gatorback belt sells for in Canada? Its $33.99 at my autozone

 

My ac pully used to squeal so i just got an Ac-less belt, gatorback ofc...but lately its decided to squeal when cold...has me perplexedm ive gone thru a few belts and pulleys myself doing the same thing

 

I changed my belt to a Gatorback (it was only $35, dunno where ZJ5point2 bought his) and theres still a bit of a squeak, so I'm assuming the next step would be to replace the idler pulleys right?

 

seriously? i was going to say i bought it in canada lol, but then i saw your from edmonton. i bought it from part source, where did you get yours?

 

Oooh, good thread. I've been dealing with this one myself. Sounds like the same symptoms too. Sometimes it would sequel like a slaughter house, other times less often, it wound't make a sound. And everywhere in between. At first I thought It was my A/C clutch going out, but then decided to try spraying some CRC belt conditioner on it. That quickly produced the loudest obnoxious stuck pig slaughter house sound you've ever heard. Since then its quited down but its still producing a very annoying chirping sound, like two of the loudest birds you've ever heard going at it hard.
From there I bough a cheap automotive stethoscope and checked all the pulleys. It wasn't conclusive but I'm sure its coming from power steering pump now. Ill have to look at getting a new bracket while i'm replacing the pump, and a gatorback belt while im at it.
Question, is it worth getting a power steering pump from the junk yard or should I opt for new?

 

Gaterback belts are junk,no better then dayco or the cheaper serp belts,they all are still made out of Neoprene.

Spend the little extra money and get the EPDM Gates belt for your older Jeep.Just by looking at a Neoprene belt and a EPDM belt you will now what one is better quality and will last 2-3 times longer also.

 

Gaterback belts are junk,no better then dayco or the cheaper serp belts,they all are still made out of Neoprene.

Spend the little extra money and get the EPDM Gates belt for your older Jeep.Just by looking at a Neoprene belt and a EPDM belt you will now what one is better quality and will last 2-3 times longer also.

I wouldn't go that far, they are a pretty good belt and keep the supercharger pulley from slipping as much as other belts on my Lightning. Although I have not tried an EPDM belt.

 

I like that story... very entertaining to read with vivid language. :laugh::laugh:

This helps me out, since I will need a new belt soon. Now I know I need a good quality one! :thumbsup:

 

Hey guys, please chime in.

Mine squeeled last winter when it got cold. Drove it like that all winter.
Summer came around and it was fine all summer.

Now that temps have dropped, it's squeeling again. The squeeling is getting worse now though and I need to fix something. I have noticed sometimes that my steering gets very heavy when the squeeling is happening. My Volts also drop done to 9 volts and most of the time will just fall straight to zero. It still drives however.

Any ideas?

 

Spring for a mopar belt. After I did that my problem went away. It seems cheap belts don't last very long.

 

Yea, sounds like in your situation your belt isnt tight enough, or wasnt at one point and now may have a glaze on it...once it slicks up its pretty much done. Would seem to be logical that a warmer belt would be "stickier" and a colder belt would be "stiffer" and with just the right lack of tension you could see differences in belt traction like you are during different temps. I personally use a gatorback, I believe they have a lifetime(?) warranty and are rather high quality.

 

I think tomorrow I'll try and find a gatorback [does Advance Auto have them?] and put that on.

 

They should, they are made by goodyear iirc. I got mine at Kragen/O'reilys

 

I had a similar issue and it turned out to be the magnet that engages the AC clutch. Mine worked loose from its bracket and got stuck behind the clutch causing constantly open AC. No problem at the time as it was 50*C at the time. When it did finally melt and fall out though I was not happy. Up to the JY, used AC compressor and good to go!

Nice story though

 

WOW very useful information. The squeak just started on mine. The belt is only 6 months old, and the power steering pump was replaced last year.

The Quick Oil change place I went to sprayed it, and it sounded like the neighbor's cat got stuck in there... was embarrassing to drive.

Since the crap has burned off, it's back but from a chirp that went away when warm to a quiet constant squeak.

I'm stumped what it is.... and need this damned thing running before it starts snowing or I'm screwed.

 

i have been trying to find a gator back none of the part stores carry them or can even order them wtf

 

Could someone tell me what he wrote basicly i cant read the wall of words it hurts my eyes.. Not trying to be rude but its true for me, makes me dizzy

 

what who said?

 

You can buy them off a plethora of online stores, including amazon.com.

I dont know how long the belts are for any of the engines, but here is a spec sheet with belt lengths and part numbers.

Goodyear® Engineered Products :: Gatorback

Figure out what length your belt is and look for the part number on amazon, and be sure to count the ridges on your pulleys to get the right number of ridges on the belt.