My truck seems to have started making a sort of squeal when i'm idling and its sort of intermittent,and gets faster untill i get up to like 2500 rpms...but it really only happens when its wet or cold outside(mind you its florida cold...40s)...you think its just a change in belt tension? You think some stp belt dressing would do the trick? im not even sure If its a belt.

Any Ideas?

 

it could be moisture on the belt, but i dont really know.

 

I had the same problem with my '97. The tensioner and idler pulleys are probably your cheapest routes, then a belt. If its none of those, then you've got to dig deeper.

Try spraying the belt with WD40 and if the squeak immediately goes away, then its a good probability the belt is junk.

 

All the pulleys didnt really have much play and seemed tight, the belt is pretty much brand new...probably moisture on it...Ill hit it with some belt dressing and see if that does the trick.

 

I don't like belt dressings i used a bar of soap on mine. All this does is cleans all the dirt and greese out of the belt. All you have to do start your truck let it idle. Put the soap on the ribs. And keep your hand away from the fan. It worked for me. I had my original mopar belt on for 65,000 miles did it once a year

 

I have a 97 and mine used to do the same thing after a wash when I sprayed into the grill with the hose. It would sometimes even squel after a rain. My belt finally snapped, not fun when you are driving. It snapped due to the cooling fan connection having a lot of wobble in the water pump, shreaded is probably a better description.

After replacing the pump and the belt, no more squeal. Not after a wash and not after a rain.

My recommendation would be to do a similar test. Take a hose and spray water at the grill. If there is squeal afterwards when you start the truck it is most likely moisture. I would then remove the belt and check for play in the cooling fan. It could be that there is water leaking out and you need to replace your water pump.

You do not want to let the belt fail while driving. Take it from me it is not fun.

 

mine made the same noise, it was just the serpantine belt, i say just replace that first especially if you dont know when the last time it was replaced. and if that isnt it check the pulleys and stuff

and on a side note bigdave that looks like the same brush guard ive got on my truck lol, did u get it of ebay? mine used to have the side bars and top one, but the top one broke off and aparently the grill in front of the lights is illegal in my state so i took it off, i like this look on it tho

 

"You do not want to let the belt fail while driving. Take it from me it is not fun."

who needs power steering anyway cars existed w/o it for years.lol

if u think ur belt is bad y not replace it its like 20 bucks right?

 

Check your water pump, I didn't and found out why no power steering is no fun when you expect to have it. Suddenly I'm back in my '65 Rambler going too fast to make a turn. Well trucks were made for off-roading anyway, right?