replaced belt tensoiner still sqeaks?

[jeff urban]

the other day my belt started to sqeak so i went to autozone he looked at it and told me it was my tesioner. replaced it today cost me $50 and still sqeaks what else could it be.(96 mgm)

[86VickyLX]

Autozone is no good. Can't trust them. They don't care, they're trying to make money off of you. They will take advantage of you.
For example, when I needed to get an oil pump, there was one left in stock. I took it out of the box and spun it (or tried to). It binded up every 1/4 of a turn. Guy told me it was fine as they all did that. My dad was with me, and I looked at him, I said, forget this pump, and take me to the other autozone, this guy doesn't care.

Maybe there's an asshole in every autozone but there are some nice people too. The other autozone I went to was very nice, kind employees and honest. I tried the pump there and it spun without binding at all.

Another time is when I needed an alternator, and I got a junkyard one. (It was brandy new) I took it to autozone because they did free testing. I had to hook it up because the guy didn't know what the hell he was doing. he couldn't even find the correct adapter plug to test it. He didn't look like he knew what he was doing when he was testing it. He must've thought I was an idiot because he had the balls to say that it didn't work. My dad was with me that time too, and we looked at each other, and he said, that guy didn't look like he knew what the hell he was doing in there. And I agreed. I took it home, and put it in my car. Started the car, and it ran by itself with no problems. No voltage problems, since I've hooked up my gauges, at idle, the volts are around 14.5


Anyway, for your problem,
Change the belt itself.
All belts squeak when they get worn down when they're old. My old belts squeaked on my car, and my parents serpentine belt on the 94 vic squeaks.

[86VickyLX]

There's also a belt dressing you can spray on the belt, gott do it while it's running. gotta spray the grooved side of the belt too.

[85crownHPP]

swap the belt too

[interceptor1985]

and if it still squeaks it could be the alternater...the one in Vicky(89 police cruiser) it squeaked and I rebuilt it and no more squeeking....At least from that..lol be sure to try the cheaper solutions first it could be something simple.

[gadget73]

Remove the belt and spin each pulley till you find what squeaks. Aren't there a couple of idler pullies on 4.6 cars ? Might be one of those, not the tensioner. If the belt is old, it should also be replaced.

[Dave84]

My old Zephyr used to squeak too. First I changed the belts and it still squeaked. Next I changed the alternator and it kept on squeaking. Turns out it was the water pump so I changed that and it ran nice and quiet after that.

[Grandmarchris]

Take a flashlight check for cracks in the belt. If more than 35 percent of the ribs are cracked replace. Also check for loose or damaged pulleys most pulleys on todays cars are made of plastic and can get out of round quickly and easily. Also run the vehicle and try to pin point where the sound is coming from either with your bare ear or a piece of heater hose/mechanics stephascope sp?.

Do not use belt dressing on serpentine belts, belt dressing is made for v-belts and some say right on the can to not use on serpentine belts.

[Grandmarchris]

Dont always listen to the counter monkeys at auto parts stores. Some of them are professional bullshitters..I should know I talk to them all day and was a counter monkey before I started working for arrow..The only time you should replace a tensioner is when it has excessive play.

[86VickyLX]

Exactly. Can't always believe what they say mang.

[CheeseSteakJim]

Belt dressings are actually bad for the belts. They'll quiet it down but in the long run they'll deteriorate, crack, and shorten the life of the belt(s) in general. It's like using brake fluid to shine your tires... it makes them look pretty but it ruins the rubber.

[Grandmarchris]

We were told at Autozone to NEVER diagnose vehicles..We were told to give the customer the code (if a engine light) and refer them to a local shop..

[zwack88]

Probably a idler pulley or the powersteering pulley on the pump. Those were the 2 that gave me issues on my old 2000 cv.