I have a 97 ram 1500 with a 5.2 318
I have replaced the water pump, idler pully tensioner pully, ac bypass and the belt. It still squeals. It always squeals when the engine is cold and when throttling up after engine is warmed up. At normal temp and sitting still it doesn't squeal. What could be the problem?

 

My guess would be the tensioner itself isn't holding. Pull the belt off and check to make sure the tensioner doesn't lock up or catch at any point, and it should take some strength to move the tensioner. If it moves without much effort, its no good.

What kind of belt? Some people have better luck using dayco/ac delco, where others have better luck with goodyear gatorbacks (like me). You're not putting belt dressing on it right?

Make sure the belt and all pulleys are clean. Any coolant, oil, etc can ruin the belt and make it squeal. Take a look and see if you can tell whether or not the pulleys are straight. If you've taken the power steering pulley off and reinstalled incorrectly it can make the belt squeal.

 

Put soap on the belt and then try to make it squeal. If it no longer squeals its the belt. If it still squeals it is either a bad pulley/tensioner or miss-aligned pulley. Clean the soap off when finished. That should help narrow it down.

 

Tensioner is good and I'm running a dayco belt. Also how much soap and any particular kind? Also no belt conditioners or dressings

 

I usually use thick liquid soap. Nothing gritty like fast orange or gojo.

 

I had squeal until I switched to Gates. Haven't heard anything in 6 years.

 

By not having all the stock acc. the belt tensioner won't hold enough pressure on the belt so it squeals ! Should have just got a used ac comp and put on it and it will work right !

 

You can just sprinkle or spray a little water on belt, if it's the belt the squeal will go away shortly and nothing to clean off. I've also had a bad water pump that would really squeal for a couple blocks when cold then get quiet.