New fan belts constantly squealing on startup?

[silviaz]

So for my r34 I had my mechanic change my fan belts and the old ones that I had (only had it for a short time) never squealed on startup, ever since I put new ones on they would squeal when it's cold and if I started the car when it's warm outside then it wouldn't sequel. I ended up taking my car back 3 times to have the fan belt adjusted and I checked the tension myself and seems correct. Goes to 90 degrees and can't go much further. I also had a new water pump installed.

Do note that, when my belt got adjusted the third time, it only squealed for half a second and went away and that was fine, but now it's back in full swing going for at least 5-10 seconds then goes away. I sprayed a bit of water on it and I think it was still sounding. Sounds like it's definitely coming from the alternator belt, but all 3 have been changed. 

Is it possible to change the alignment on the alternator? ( don't know if it's just me or if it looks a little off From what I can tell it's just in one set position. I'm really tempted to get some SCA anti sequel spray from supercheap to shut it up for a while. I just don't want to keep revisiting my mechanic with the same problem.

Edited December 8, 2023 by silviaz

[GTSBoy]

On plain V belts I used to take the belt off and use a little 200 grit paper on the sheaves. Deglaze them. It's a bit harder on poly V belts, but still doable.

 

[silviaz]

2 hours ago, GTSBoy said:

On plain V belts I used to take the belt off and use a little 200 grit paper on the sheaves. Deglaze them. It's a bit harder on poly V belts, but still doable.

 

Hmm, never heard of that but guess I could give them a go, seems like people say whatever you put on the belt it will ruin it, like soap, wd-40, grease, etc. When you say "sheaves" are you referring to the groove part of the belt? I wonder if it's worth getting new belts entirely.

Edited December 8, 2023 by silviaz

[silviaz]

4 hours ago, GTSBoy said:

On plain V belts I used to take the belt off and use a little 200 grit paper on the sheaves. Deglaze them. It's a bit harder on poly V belts, but still doable.

 

From memory you have an r33? Are you able to adjust the position of the alternator using the 3 bolts on it to change the alignment of the pulley between the alternator and water pump?

[silviaz]

1 hour ago, silviaz said:

From memory you have an r33? Are you able to adjust the position of the alternator using the 3 bolts on it to change the alignment of the pulley between the alternator and water pump?

I forgot to mention if I'm operating the clutch in a weird way (like messing up the foot movement) I can hear the squeal

[GTSBoy]

5 hours ago, silviaz said:

When you say "sheaves" are you referring to the groove part of the belt?

The sheave is the V part of the pulley that makes contact with the belt face.

2 hours ago, silviaz said:

From memory you have an r33? Are you able to adjust the position of the alternator using the 3 bolts on it to change the alignment of the pulley between the alternator and water pump?

Nope, R32 with R34 motor. And no, there should be no fore-aft adjustment possible, otherwise everyone would f**k it up.

47 minutes ago, silviaz said:

I forgot to mention if I'm operating the clutch in a weird way (like messing up the foot movement) I can hear the squeal

This is probably you rapidly changing the engine revs with the clutch, which then causes the fan belt to slip hard for an instant. If it is not, then the noise is in the clutch and that's probably real bad.

[silviaz]

17 minutes ago, GTSBoy said:

The sheave is the V part of the pulley that makes contact with the belt face.

Nope, R32 with R34 motor. And no, there should be no fore-aft adjustment possible, otherwise everyone would f**k it up.

This is probably you rapidly changing the engine revs with the clutch, which then causes the fan belt to slip hard for an instant. If it is not, then the noise is in the clutch and that's probably real bad.

Ah ok. yeah it was rapidly changing revs with the clutch I think. Only happens for an instant. 

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

Are you running an ATI balancer?

 

[silviaz]

On 12/28/2023 at 8:24 PM, Dose Pipe Sutututu said:

Are you running an ATI balancer?

 

Sorry mate I didn't see this. but issue is fixed, went to the local mechanic and turns out my regular mechanic that I visited multiple times didn't tighten the alternator enough. I went to double check and the tension now seems good, not overtight. Not sure how my mechanic missed that and said that it seemed all good to him lol.

[Predator1]

On 04/01/2024 at 5:09 PM, silviaz said:

Sorry mate I didn't see this. but issue is fixed, went to the local mechanic and turns out my regular mechanic that I visited multiple times didn't tighten the alternator enough. I went to double check and the tension now seems good, not overtight. Not sure how my mechanic missed that and said that it seemed all good to him lol.

So you went to see him 3 times, and he couldnt tighten the belts..?!!?!? Time to find a new mechanic. 

[silviaz]

2 hours ago, Predator1 said:

So you went to see him 3 times, and he couldnt tighten the belts..?!!?!? Time to find a new mechanic. 

First time, he tightened the wrong belt. He didn't check all the belts from memory just checked one and tightened it and still had the same problem. Second time, he fixed "most" of the issue, he tightened the right belt but not enough it seems, it would only squeal for half a second maybe, then I went the third time and he said it was all good and he didn't want to tightened it anymore to not overtighten it.

Then it started getting worse again and it went back to squealing for around 5- 10 seconds or so. 4th time I went to a new mechanic who told me that my last mechanic didn't tighten it enough and he fixed it and I haven't had the problem since.