as the title says, my belt has a high pitch squeal only on cold start and lasts for about 4-5 seconds then goes away until next cold start (about 8 hours). I'm thinking its a serpentine belt that needs to be replaced or a tensioner. what do you guys think the problem is?

 

Have you pulled it off and spun the pulleys?

 

no I just got home and haven't had the chance to do that, I've been really busy and might have a shop fix it because I've just been really busy. I think it's either the belt or one of the pulleys.

 

Dude, I know it's like the pot calling the kettle black, but it takes like 15 minutes to do a belt change. The belts are like 25 bucks.....even I changed my belt.

 

+1 on pulleys. just dealt with a similiar situation on my dodge, my tensioner and idler pulley had play. pull off the belt and make sure it is in good shape. like dodge dude said they are like 25 bucks, might as well replace it especially if u dont know when it was replaced last. check pulleys for play and spin them.

 

I know, I checked the belt and it doesn't look like it has cracks or is frayed. I was wondering if its not that, what else could it be? I'm thinking its not tight enough or the tensioner pulley or idler pulley are going bad.

 

How's your PS fluid looking?

It's possible it's thick or low or something on cold start causing the belt to act up.

 

the PS fluid looks fine and isn't low.

 

squealing can be caused by a few things:

the belt itself:
a hard/dry belt that's slipping.
belt contaminated by oil or coolant (water pump).
weak tensioner.
bad PS pump or AC compressor that doesn't want to spin.

bad bearing in any one of the pulleys.

while engine is running, verify belt is running true, and all is aligned.
engine off, unhook the belt and spin (and wiggle) every pulley. they should spin freely, silently. not wobble nor wiggle. no play.
inspect belt for oil or coolant.
feel the bottom of the water pump. a drip is bad.
feel the bottom of the PS pump. a drip is bad.

if all is well, replace the belt.
if tensioner or idler pulley is dry or ringy or weak. replace them.

 

thanks for the help everyone. I'll post again when I figure out exactly what this is.