OT: Squeaky Serpentine Belt

[LilCerberus]

Well, for me at least, Winter always means that my Serpentine Belt is gonna start making that noise, and it bugs the heck outa' me, not to mention this is one case where I actually worry about what the neighbors are thinking.

I know it means that my belt is loose, but if I run it by my mechanic, he's just going to tell me that serpentine belts are just going to do that at certain times of year or in certain kinds of weather, and I understand that the tension adjusters on my '92 Taurus LX are supposed to be automatic, so I & my neighbors are just gonna have to put up with this darned noise.

So I'll go out & get some belt dressing. Oh, I know you're not supposed to put belt dressing on a serpentine belt, even if the back of the can says it's okay for serpentine belts, but what else can I do?

So I usually get this stuff from STP that seems to work okay, but this year I couldn't find any, so I went with this stuff from CRC, as it was the only thing I could find that said it was serpentine safe.

Unfortunately, that only made it worse.

So as I'm driving around with this horrible noise coming from the front of my car, I got to thinking, why don't they ever have this problem in the movies?
Seriously. Cars in the movies tend to have every problem except this one. Most commonly are the classic rusted out muffler or dirty valves. Sometimes they'll even go with other noises, like the blownout cylender or headgasket, or the unsynchronized carborator with worn out needlevalves, or the worn out camchain, or even the distinct sound of the distributor cap being on backwards, but never a squeaky belt.
Now why do you suppose that is?

Just once, I'd like to see a movie or TV show where a cop is tailing some crook or something, stealthfully following the suspect totally unnoticed, and then at a critical moment, his car starts making this high pitched squeeling noise that can be heard for blocks around.
That would be funny.

Well, in the meantime, I'm gonna see if I can find me one of them Chilton's manuals.

Say, while I gotcha here, does anybody know where I can find a one gallon jug of 12% Hydrogen Peroxide?

[odinn7]

Serp belts with automatic tensioners will usually squeal for 1 of  2 reasons. The most common is the belt itself. The belt may look fine but they will sometimes get a glaze on them that causes this noise. The other problem that is fairly common on older cars is the tensioner itself. The spring gets weak and it allows the belt to slip just a little with every revolution. Now and then I have seen water pumps or alternators cause this problem too but it's not as common.
I know I didn't answer your actual question but I thought I'd try to help you out a little.