Van has been running great. Yesterday while driving I had a loud squeal coming from the engine, ( I Think ), just when accelerating. No noise when idling. Sounded like there was a wolf under the hood. Anyone out there had this issue? Thanks

 

How old is the serpentine belt? It could be stretched to its limit or the belt tensioner could be getting stuck.

 

alloro has a good suggestion...

I would want to add that I had a similar problem when my heater hose behind the top idler pully, was leaking. The leakage would spray on the back of the idler making it squeak loudly...

Just another thought!

 

Would the tension adjuster only get stuck when accelerating or even at idle? The belt is at least 3 years old, not sure when or if it was ever replaced. Did check for leaks at the heater hose, but saw none. Thanks both for the advice.

 

Tensioner bearing or even the idler pulley bearing can squeal. If so and since you are not sure if the belt is 3 years old or older I would change the belt and both the tensioner and idler pulley's as well.

In my experience when the belt needs changing it is a really good idea to change the tensioner and idler pulley's with their sealed bearing as well. If you don't then you may be back in there doing so in short order.

 

Last spring I also had an unknown squeal from the engine. While at idle there was only a slight noise, but when driving I could hear it. It was not perfectly in-synch with engine rpm, but it did get louder as I drove faster. I could not hear it with the road noise at highway speeds, but around 25-35 I could hear it. Iit suddenly stopped one day. About 5 miles down the road something started to hit the engine fan so I stopped. I found the serpentine belt to be frayed with a loose piece hitting the fan as it revolved. I was able to get to a repair garage fortunately as I was on a short trip to the next state at the time and had no tools with me. Within 30 minutes the owner/mechanic had parts delivered and had replaced the serpentine belt and the idler for $75 while the van sat in his driveway. The reason the squeal went away was that I had lost the idler pulley somewhere on the road and the belt ran on the idler arm (minus the pulley) assembly for about 5 miles before it finally frayed.

The moral of the story is to not let a squeal under the hood go untouched and the cost of replacement even if you have it done is not too great. BTW the engine is a 5.2 2001 with 152K miles.

 

Squeal can also come from the alternator bearing - based on my experience these alternators only last somewhere between 100K - 125K miles. The Idler Pulley & Tensioner pulley can squeak but they generally last a very long time. Check your alternator.

Also, I think Dayco serp belts suck. See if you can find a Goodyear Gatorback serp belt and put one of those in and keep your old Dayco under your seat as a spare.

 

I am only running one V belt on my LA engine rather than 2

When the alternator is producing over 85 amps (1500+rpm and cold) it starts to slip and squeal, and more so if the power steering is asking for some power when turning harder.

One single discharged battery cannot really ask for 85 amps, but two can. Definitely do not ignore the squealing and follow advice in previous posts.

 

This reminds me of a similar incident I had two summers ago. I was about 50 miles from home heading down the highway when my serpentine belt broke. It was summertime and I was about 3 miles from the next exit. I tried to keep going hoping to make it to the exit. The whole time I had one eye fixed on the temperature gauge. As the temperature got up near the first hot line I shut the engine off and coasted as far as I could, pulled to the side and waited 10 minutes for things to cool a bit. Each time I stopped I used my cordless drill to turn the water pump and fan, hoping it would help some with the cool down time. I did this drive, coast and cool down thing three times before getting close to an auto parts store.

Finally after reaching an auto parts store, buying a new belt I headed back to my van about 45 minutes after the belt had broken. I grabbed my wrench for the belt tensioner, popped the hood, started to route the belt and then noticed something amazing. The pulley on the A/C compressor was still spinning at high speed. I actually had to use the wrench to stop it from turning. Now those are some good bearings.

 

Rusty, How would I check to see if it is the alternator? I will get a new belt and also the tension and idler pulley. Are the pulleys and belt something I can do, or should I bring it to a mechanic? Thanks all for the input