How to Quiet a Squeaky Belt

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Hi, I'm Mike from 1A Auto. I hope this how-to video helps you out, and next time you need parts for your vehicle, think of 1AAuto.com. Thanks.

As you'll see in a minute on this 2005 Silverado, good vehicle for filming, it's got the 4.3-liter V6 in it, so it's nice to and easy to work on and easy to film. But you'll see the belt is squeaking quite annoyingly, I guess. Usually, the reason for a belt squeaking sometimes is that it's just because they're wearing out. But a lot of times, it's because some oil or grease or something gets onto the belt or the pulleys and it causes it to slip and screech. We'll get on with it. What you'll need is whatever the tools you'll need to take the belt off, some carburetor cleaner, and a stiff bristle brush, and some steel wool.

As you can hear, our belts are squeaking pretty badly. This 4.3-liter's pretty easy to work on. I just need a 3/8th ratchet that loosens the belt, and I can remove the belt now. Then I'm going to use a carburetor cleaner. Carburetor cleaner for two reasons: it's very good at cleaning (it cleans grease and grime off very quickly), and it also evaporates really quickly.

I spray it on all the pulleys. I don't film it, but I also spray it on the belt itself. Spray it on all the pulleys, and then in a few minutes you'll see me use a stiff bristle brush. Or you could use a soft wire brush to clean the grooved pulleys. You can see here, I sprayed the carb cleaner on, and then I used that stiff bristle plastic brush. Do a better view over here. Not easy to do trying to handle the camera with one hand. But spray it on. Clean the grooves in those pulleys really well.

Then use some steel wool to clean the pulleys that don't have any grooves on, which you'll see in a minute. Then I'll put the belt back on, and you can hear how much it helps. Nice and quiet. There you go, our 2005 Chevy Silverado is running nice and quiet again. I did do this on a GMC 2002 6-liter truck, a little different results. After I cleaned the belt and the pulleys, it still squeaked a little bit. But then about 10 miles down the road or so or, actually, the next time I started the truck up, I noticed that the squeaking was gone. Generally cleaning off the belt, cleaning off the pulleys will get rid of that annoying squeaking noise as long as your belt's still in good shape.

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