DCarter197

I have had my drive belt changed twice over 2 years and it is still making a squeaking sound. I have a 2001 LS430 with 113k miles. I had my serpentine belt changed early 2017 late 2016. then again mid 2017. The reason for both is due to a loud squeak when starting the car and the first few minutes of driving. Weather and the speed of the first few minutes are not a factor. I am making this post because the belt started squeaking again towards the end of 2017 in the same scenarios, start up and the first few minutes of driving. I took it back to NTB since they did the first 2 changes and they didn't see anything wrong with the belt. And like I said it is only the initial start up and first few mins of driving, so once getting to NTB the squeak is no longer there because I have driven it for a while. My question is if its the serpentine belt squeaking or something else? When I lift up the hood it sounds like the squeak is coming from the belt but NTB is saying they don't see anything wrong with the belt.

Johnhav430

Could it have to do with the make of the belt, although my guess is, no?

Last Friday my wife's car started making a whine/howl that she did not recognize (she drives it all the time so would know), and when I listened on Sat., it sounded to me like a power steering pump. Later that evening the vehicle got even louder and her a/c cut off with a battery saver message on the dash. Sure enough, turned out to be the alternator.

On my Maxima, I believe that coolant was able to get onto one of the belts from a weep (it has more than one belt), and I experienced sounds such as you describe--went away after a minute or two. Also, I once got a sound from the tensioner that was constant, not intermittent, and rpm related. Just sharing the sounds that I've had in the past...don't have any such sounds on the LS...

911LE

It's most likely not the belt. It's either the tensioner needing to be replaced for not holding the correct tension, or a bearing in one of the pullies is going bad. Remove the belt and spin each by hand. They should be almost silent with no play in them.

2KHarrier

I'd be willing to bet John's paycheck that it's the belt tensioner. My 2005 squeaks when it's cold (changing it out next week along with all TB components) If I shoot a little lubricant onto the center of the pulley, while the car is running, it will immediately quiet down, but within a day or so, it starts to squeak again..

Common problem.

Johnhav430

Who's paycheck lol.....if mine.....just this week I was thinking wth I have a $1,000 credit card bill due on the 22nd, what did we buy, we only use that card for restaurants and Costco?

I see I charged my trip in Toronto in Feb., so it must have just missed the cut-off, went on the statement in March, due in April. I was already reimbursed, yet I feel like I've lost a grand!

If I recall the tensioner wasn't that cheap for the Maxima so never wanted to do it if it didn't need it....is it an expensive item on the LS? I think the exterior belts I am ok with Gates, I always used Gates on the Maxima...maybe Bando here sure, but I would be ok with a Gates tensioner...

2KHarrier

Assuming the tensioner is doing it's job (rarely fails), the pulley bearing is what wears out and is only 15 - 20 dollars and is super easy to swap out. One 13mm bolt down the center and you're done..

I'm fine with a Gates belt. Heck I'm fine with whatever O'Reilly carries. There are millions of these belts out there that have zero issues with premature wear. Timing belt? Different story...

bradland

The tensioning part of the assembly is a wear item that is often overlooked. It dies a very slow death and if it does fail it still doesn't cause any sort of catastrophic (leave you on the side of the road) failure. Some will say it can cause other belt driven accessories to fail if the tension of the belt isn't to spec. Outside of extreme examples I think this would be fairly difficult to verify...

The bearing in the pulley is a good start as it's simple and cheap. I would try replacing it first before considering the entire assembly. A new pulley is available for under $20 for those who don't have the tools to press a bearing out.

I replaced the tensioner on my 400 a couple years ago while replacing the PS pump. It was quite a bit more work than I expected and I quickly realized I should've done it during a TB job.