I have serpentine belt squeak on my 1997 Dakota V8. I believe it to be an old belt or an alignment issue. The current belt is probably 10 years old.

I am going to replace the belt with a gator quiet belt.

My question is, My air conditioner has not worked in 5 years or so and I have no intention of fixing it.

Would it be ok to get the smaller belt and by pass the AC compressor?

 

It would be perfectly fine to do that.

 

Keep in mind that the gatorback belt is now known as a Continental Elite. I run one on my truck and it's awesome.

 

Remove the belt and turn everything by hand. You may have a dry idler pulley causing the squeak. They should spin smoothly when properly lubricated. You'll know when you hear a dry one.

 

Thanks, everybody. I was wondering why I couldn't find the gator belts for sale.

I will check all of the pulleys and do that large screwdriver as a stethoscope thing, but the water test says it's a belt issue or an alignment issue.

hopefully, it is an easy fix.

 

so I remove the belt and check all of the pulleys and there is a little bit of play in the tensioner pulley. I put the belt back on and start the truck and the Squeak is gone.

I have driven it a couple of hours with no squeak.

Maybe the tensioner was stuck and it loosened up when I worked it?

 

I posted this a month ago, but it never showed up.

I pulled off the serp belt and checked all of the pullies. They seemed ok.
The belt looked to be a gator belt. I put everything back together and the squeak was gone.

I guess the tensioner was stiff and working it to get the belt off got it working good again?

probably no reason to goof with it until it squeaks again?

 

Pretty much. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.