New LS1 Owners - Newbie Tech - PLEASE HELP! Pulley/belt squeek I cannot solve

Hey everyone, this is driving me crazy and has gotten so loud and obnoxious I dont want to even drive the damn car. It all started about a month ago, i started noticing a slight squeek under load so i replaced my belt. Went away for a couple days then came back. At first the squeek would go away after the car reached for temp and was warm for awhile. Then the squeek started getting louder and louder every couple days and now it doesnt go away at all, and is horribly loud, especially during acceleration threw the gears. Since the squeek came back I have tried replacing, the belt again(used different brand), idler pulley, tensioner pulley, and just now i tried replacing the entire tensioner assembly. Nothing has worked. Not even a bit. The car has an aftermarket balancer pulley (not sure which brand) that came on the car when i bought it. Any advice as to what may be causing the problem would be a huge help. Im so fed up with it at this point, i am about to take it to a shop because i dont have time to deal with it anymore, but am doing anything i possibly can to fix it first because i hate other people working on my car, and dont wanna pay for something i can easily do myself. PLEASE HELP

forgot to mention this is not the car in my sig, this is on my other 99 Z, with just bolt-ons.

has anyone had a problem with the balancer pulley going bad?

and could it possible be one of the pulleys on the a/c drive, even though i never use my ac?

Try finding the point of origin. Like use a length of
vacuum hose or something, as a stethoscope. At
least then you can quit shotgunning things.

There's some pulleys that the belt runs over, on
the smooth side. That might have gotten so shiny
or glazed that the belt slips full time. If you shoot
some "belt dressing" at the two sides, one at a
time, you can maybe narrow it down that way;
if neither helps then it's got to be a bearing or
seal.

a bearing in the motor??

first take off the ac belt. if it doesnt squeak anymore than you know where it is coming from. it could be your ac clutch (i just replaced mine and it is squeaking again)

No, the bearing in the tensioner/idler pulleys may be bad, or the a/c, i use wd40 to find where it comes from, then go from there. I wouldnt rule out the belt, even if its new, unless you got a gm belt.

thanks for the help. Ive sprayed wd40 all over the pulleys on the accessory drive, ill try with the a/c drive tomorrow. is it ok to have the car running without the a/c belt on just to see if thats the problem?

I had a LOUD squeal that was driving me nuts. Mostly when the engine was cold. After narrowing down to the AC belt system, it turned out to be the AC idler pulley (the top one).

Bolt was tight as a bitch. Broke a T50 Torx bit.

yea its perfectly fine to not have the a/c belt on. its not gonna do anything but you can feel a slightly better throttle response when you take it off due to the less amount of resistance

well i took off the ac belt and its still there. I guess i will pick up yet another belt tomorrow, and try picking up a new idler pulley as well. any other suggestions? is there any way the balancer, dampner, or power steering pulley went bad?

I had the same issue, although not as loud as it seems you have.

I started by replacing the idlers on the main drive, then the two on the a/c. After that I did the a/c clutch and bearing, and got gatorback belts, all of which also had short lived results. I finally replaced the water pump, due to a leaking weep hole.

It started out kind of loud, and it seemed with each new part it helped a little and I think now is finally solved. Before the waterpump it would squeal until I had been driving a while like you describe. Keep in mind if you get coolant or any water on the belt it can cause a long term squeal. You can use some brake cleaner on the pulleys to get any junk off that might have gotten on it.

what about the alternator? i remember that was my first ever squeak in my car

im shocked it didnt go away after u took off the A/C belt. I had the same issue, squeek that went away after the car warmed up, then started to just always squeek. I took off the A/C belt, noise went away, so I just left the belt off. That reminds me I was going to put a new belt on there...

im going crazy lol. i replaced the idler and belt again to today on my lunch break, seemed fine on the way back to work, no noise at all. Yet on my way home from work just now, it started doing it again, slightly quiter and only at rpms about 2000, no noise at idle. Of coarse i got pissed off, but half way home it dissapeared again. So it looks like its only doing it when its cold now.

It sounds like its coming from the right side(looking at the front of motor), so im thinking it maybe either the power steering or alternator pulley. Which one is usually more prone to failure? Do they sell just the pulleys for those or do i need to buy a whole new one?

i can almost guarantee you its your power steering pulley. I had the same problem to where i just sprayed wd-40 on the belt and it would go away. I replaced my water pump and power steering pump at once and it went away. But a few months later it came back again, the very next day it blew into like twenty pieces. Check your power steering pulley for stress cracks in front of it, mine had them going from the center to the outside of the pulley. I would also check the pulley on the ware pump to see how shiny it is where the belt goes, that could be it too, good luck.

thanks, the power steering pulley is a special order part from the dealership so i guess ill try ordering one on monday.

maybe this isnt your problem however i had the typical "bird chirping" and i either fixed the idler or the tensioner and its fixed. i first tried which ever was cheaper. (which worked). one was like $40 the other like $65. good luck!

GM had problems with pulley alignment for a while. The power steering pulley would be pressed on too far and cause misalignment. It was mainly on the trucks but just another idea to check. One pulley being off by 1/16th in. could cause it to make noise, even with a new belt.

I had this same problem on TWO 98 Trans Ams recently, was driving me nuts trying to find where the noise was coming from. I was trying to replace the pulleys and found they were rather expensive.

I removed the idler pulley and tensioner pulley from both the AC and serpintine systems and used a precision screwdriver to pull the seals from the bearings (carefully so as not to damage the seals) and cleaned the old dry grease out using brake cleaner and making sure they were bone dry. Then repacked them with fresh grease and sealed them up. After install, both cars are nice and quiet. Saved myself some money on pulleys and since it worked on two cars, seems solid. Been running for over a month without a chirp from either car.

Sorry for the delayed reply but have not been to the forums in a bit.

I may try that. Funny mine is nosiest after it rains!