I had a sound that started a a little while back that sounds like a serpentine belt squeak. I changed belts and it went away. Left out Friday on a trip and it came back. When you start the engine, it starts, increasing the RPM's or the whether the AC is on or off has no effect on the sound. It can be heard with the window down moving up to 35 mph or so then wind and road noise covers it. I have thought about the tension pulley, idle pulley, water pump, AC pulley but replacing parts until you hit the problem will cost a fortune. I am leaving out 7/4 to go home, if any of you fellows have an idea or better method of trouble shooting the problem, I am all ears.

Thanks in advance for any help or ideas you may have

 

I had a similar noise. I replaced the belt, the noise went away for a while, then showed up two weeks later. I put a new belt tensioner on, it's been quite ever since.

 

Thanks Mike for the reply, I have been leaning toward the tensioner myself. If you don't mind me asking, what does Dodge think of that thing ($) and how long did you run yours before you changed it. (trying to determine if I want to chance the trip back home without changing it, plus I'm in western NC and have no idea where a dealer is)

 

About $112 at Oreilly's. Napa or Autozone should have them as well.

 

Remove the belt and spin all the accessorys by hand if it feels rough/sounds noisy.. replace it

 

Thanks Tocapet and Nickg. I failed to mention in the original post that when I replaced the belt last week, I turned everything by hand slowly to feel for roughness and spun them fast to listen for any sound and everything seemed fine. One thing that I did just a little bit ago was to crank engine and spray a little water on the rear area of the tensioner, which also got on the belt. Tis would quieten the squeak for about 10-15 seconds and then it would start again, what do you guys think?

 

My experience has been if water quiets it then the belt is at fault, BTW when antifreeze gets on a belt it will squeal like mad and it is very hard if not impossible to get it to stop, it could be possible that your "new" belt is glazed and causing the squeal. was it a good quality belt? some will stretch a lot

 

I got mine from Napa for around $70. I had about 90,000 miles when I changed it out.

 

I took the tensioner apart and put oil and grease on the inside of the pulley. It quit squeaking, and it has been thousands of miles still quiet.

 

I too have this squeek going on. Just started month ago. It also "chirps" loudly at shutdown. Is this the same thing? I mean is the chirp and squeek caused by the same problem?

 

I think the Chirp is just from your engine stopping so fast due to the compression, and since your belt is still spinning for a second, it chirps as it rubs against the flywheel...but I could be wrong. But however, the chirp is normal unless you get a Gatorback Belt..they wont chirp.

 

One good thing to do whenever you replace a belt is to take coarse emory cloth or sandpaper and rub down all the pulleys. It will give all the pulls a good rough surface to grip the belt, de-glaze the pulleys, and clean them too. Also take an ice pick or something pointy and run it in the grooves of the grooved pulleys. Rubber dust from a old belt, dirt, etc. tend to get caked up in the channels over time.