99 Dodge Dakota 3.9 AC bypass belt squealing. New belt, replaced tensioner, all pulleys spin nice and free, belt is somewhat loose and still squealing. Ideas?
Goodyear Gatorback belts are available on both eBay and Amazon.com. But first, you need to find out if it's the belt that is the problem, or a load, or bad bearing somewhere!Good bearings are sealed from moisture and contamination. So, with the engine running and the hood open, take a garden hose, and FROM A DISTANCE, spray a little water on the belt, hopefully on the serpentine side. If the problem is the BELT, it will be quiet while wet! If the problem is NOT the belt, the water will make little if any difference in the noise level. One more thing you can do, BEFORE removing the belt, is look at the "jumping around that the belt is doing, and do that both WITH air conditioning ON, and separately, with the A/C OFF. If that makes a big difference, the A/C may be overcharged enough that it's causing shock loads on the drive belt! Overcharging might cool more inside, but it is very bad for the compressor, belts, and everything driven by that belt! If the belt is quiet while wet, remove it from the vehicle, after everything cools off, using a belt tensioner tool (available at Harbor Freight Tools for less than $20), or get one on a "tool loan" plan from an auto parts dealer such as Autozone or O'Reilly Auto Parts. With the belt off, and THE ENGINE COOL, rotate each pulley or wheel that the serpentine belt drives. Are any of them noisy, or hard to turn? The only one that should be hard to turn under those conditions is the crankshaft pulley! If anything else is hard to turn, that is probably your problem!