I had a problem with a chirpping under the hood. I thought it was the idler pulley, but after changing it, the chirp was still there, especially when it was moist outside.

The fix was silicone spray. With the engine running, I was able to spray the ribbed side of the belt between the A/C compressor and PS pump as it turned. Sprayed it on for about five seconds as it turned and the problem has been completely gone for a week now. It's a fairly new quality belt too. If it returns I'll post up.

FF

 

Could it be that the AC compressor or the PS pump is going --- and imposing excessive loads on the belt so it is slipping?

When you lubed it... it let it slip.

I would check for those two places first.

Assume that the belts are new and properly tensioned.

 

Already check all that.

 

Look, if you lube the belt, what you do is you make it slip without the noise. Something is wrong that is putting excessive strain on the belt. I would advise changing the belt too, if it has been slipping, it will glaze over and not get proper traction on the pulleys.

Silicon spray is not a fix, it is death sentence to the belt. The oil will work into the rubber, causing the belt to come apart. That is no more of a fix than the snake oil stop leak products, they just mask the problem, but create a set of new problems. All you have done is made so that as the belt slips it does not make any noise.

You need a new belt, and to find which pulley or accessory is the source of the problem. The other possibility is that the tensioner is weak and is not applying enough tension to the belt.

 

Thanks, but everything is fine.