OK, 2003 Neon SXT auto with 11,500 miles. My serpentine belt likes to squeel(sp) like MAD when I leave the car sitting overnight or it's really mosit out. so, here's the setup. Go out to the car in the AM. Start it. All seems ok. Turn the rear defroster on. Belt start squeeling and I can actually smell the rubber of the belt. If I crank the wheel it gets worse (power steering pump). If I get it to stop and get out on the road, it sometimes does it again at a stop light. THe car looses all power too. Just doesn't want to go.

The belt looks perfect. I have used belt dressing on it...no help really. I also notice that my lights, both exterior and interior, seem to flicker at all times. ugh

So, any ideas??

 

Altenator belt. Tighten it. You should be fine.

Are you running any other accessories such as a stereo system? That could be cause as to why the lights dim when its cold.

 

take it b to dealer, under warranty.

 

Why?

Its not that hard to turn a bolt.

 

But it is to get the right amount of tention on the belt. If it's under warranty it won't cost anything but an hour at most.

 

It's still under warranty. I figured that's what it was, but I just wanted to get a few opinions.

 

Yeah but he also said he is losing all power, I figure since it is under warranty, might as well have someone else look at it getting a headache finding it yoruself.

 

I would take it to the dealer. 2 Reasons. 1- If its slipping that bad it probally needs to be replaced and why should you spend the money. 2 -Why get dirty and spend money, when you paid for the car they gave you a warenty that you would not have to spend money to fix your car or get dirty working on your car for a certain length of time.

 

If you're talking about the serpentine belt, isn't that considered "routine maintanence"? If so, I'm not sure that's covered by warranty. Am I wrong?

 

Depending on root cause and age. Mine was replaced under warranty at about 5000 miles. They changed both. They also left the alternator belt a little too loose. This caused the belt to squeak for a few moments. The tensioner on my power steering belt (No a/c) is very light and does not have any issues.

However back to the issue at hand if the tensioner is bad the power steering/AC belt may not have enough tension and cause squeeling. This would be evident with noise during turning. However you would not get a burning smell(assuming this as you stated you can smell the belt) generally unless a pully in freezing. Ie. a bed bering or pump. Might be bad power steering pump. But another telling symptom is actually you A/C compressor. This is a heavy load and if it is seizing you can cause excessive load and burn a belt.

This is indeed a perfect time to see the dealer and let them figure out the root cause as there seems to be a real problem. This belt on the A/C and power steering is controlled by a tensioner so something probably failed. As belts should last probably at least 30,000 miles.