Belt dressing cleanup!!

[Seand]

2004 Outback, 100,000 km.

 

I've had a "chirpy" belt for the past number of weeks. It would be there on startup but would disappear after running for a short while. In the past, I'd used belt dressing with great success on my older vehicles that had v belts. After putting this sticky cr@p on my belts, I read that it should not be used on serpentine belts - I know now why!!!

 

This AM on our way to work, my wife called me to say that the car is making a lot of noise. I pulled over and waited for her to catch up to me. She came alongside and the darn thing sounded like it was dying. What a racket!! Squeaking, ticking, whining - you name it!!! My first thought was that a bearing was gone in either the AC, the alternator or tensioner. :eek: I asked her for her water bottle and proceeded to pour it down over the belts. Instant silence and smooth running - phew!! (I was getting worried about chewed bearings and such)

 

My questions are "Is there a way to clean the belts and pulleys without having to pull them off? If so, what should I use to clean them - are there any "belt safe" cleaners/lubricants?

 

There also seems to be a bit of runout on the main pulley. Should there be any here at all or should it run dead on?

 

Thanks in advance,

Sean

[porcupine73]

Well I would suspect the issue is other than a loose belt. I have used the belt dressing (Kanolabs dynall) many times on the soobs with no issues.

 

However if you have say a failing bearing in the alternator, the belt dressing isn't going to make any difference with that, and the bearing will eventually fail. It doesn't mean the belt dressing was the problem though.

 

No, the crankshaft pulley should not have any noticeable runout. CAUTION: If you are seeing much wobble on the crankshaft pulley that drives the a/c and alternator/p.s. belts, it is possible the bolt is backing out. This does happen sometimes after a timing belt replacement where the bolt was not tightened correctly afterwards.

 

This info is all for H4 soobs. If by chance yours is an H6, that is a different accessory belt setup (though some did have issues with an idler going bad on there).

 

For the cleaning I'm not sure what I'd use. Possibly non-chorlinated brake cleaner I would try if I were going to try this. But that stuff is highly flammable and I'm not sure it is completely compatible with the belts, though usually they contain things such as xylene, toluene, MEK, mineral spirits, etc.

[Seand]

I don't think I have a bearing problem as eveything goes nice and quiet and smooth when the belts are wet. This belt dressing was very sticky and I'm guessing the extra friction is cauing the very "dry" noise I'm getting - that is, unitl I wet it down.

 

I am a bit concerned about the crank pully runout, though. I think that's where the original chirping was coming from. I should just put a wrench on it to see if it's loose at all. If it's tight, are there any other reasons for runout?

[porcupine73]

It's a 22mm headed bolt. Looseness may or may not be detectable but it wouldn't hurt to check. Yes, there are other possible causes of runout in the crank pulley. Sometimes those pulleys fail with age/mileage. The rubber cracks and then they can come apart.

[3eyedwagon]

It's the belt dressing. That's why it says right on the bottle; "Do NOT use with serpentine systems". I personally wouldn't ever even use the stuff on V-belts, and I sold it for years. It's like radiator stop leak. A temporary solution to a problem that could be easily rectified, and instead is made worse by quick fixes. Just like radiator stop leak.

[Seand]

Unfortunately the aerosol can of belt dressing I bought did not have the warning about serpentine belts I only found out not to use it by looking on the Internet well AFTER I had sprayed the junk on my belts!! Live and learn, I always say!