Serpentine belt keeps squeaking on 2006 Infiniti m35. The belt is in immaculate condition with no wear or tear, and I put a used idler pulley to see if the squeaking would stop but it persisted. When I poured water on the groove side of the belt, the squeaking temporarily stopped then started again. What could the issue be?
The belt is in immaculate condition with no wear or tear,
How do you know? Have you measured it for wear? How old and how many miles on the belt?
I put a used idler pulley to see if the squeaking would stop but it persisted
Why a used pulley that may well be 15-20 years old? Did you check the bearing in your original or the used replacement? Have you checked the belt tensioner and all other pulleys and accessories in the belt path?
@chucktobias I know the belt is in good condition because it's new and I inspected it. Why does it get quiet when I pour water on the groove side?
Have you performed any of the other troubleshooting steps outlined?
many possible reasons
- worn tensioner
- your "used" pulley is , well, used up
- the grooves in the belt are worn (hard to spot)
- one of the accessories (alternator, AC compressor etc.) are dragging
- ...
The belt wasn't designed to be run on a wet drive system. (Literally anything might make it stop temporarily).Why does it get quiet when I pour water on the groove side?
I remember backyard mechanics using a bar of soap to quieten down noise. It sound a bit stupid, but it can actually work for a short while. It never fixed one noisy belt drive line tho, it doesn't address the underlying problem.
You should start basic. So take the belt off, crank the car and let it run briefly. If the noise disappears replace the belt. Before you install a new belt you should check the rest of the belts drive-line.
@hixster I hear you but it doesn't stay quiet for long. It only stays quiet for about 6 seconds then the squeaking returns.
@boomvoom223 I assume you mean, with the belt off, it's quite for six seconds then gets noisy. To be clear, with the belt off, your hear the noise after starting and idling the engine past 6 seconds. This means you need to get a mechanics stethoscope (or really long screwdriver) to pin point the noise's location. Let the car idle (don't overheat the car) and while idling, carefully locate where the noise is coming from..
it doesn't stay quiet for long. It only stays quiet for about 6 seconds then the squeaking returns.
You're making too much out of wetting the belt quieting down the squeaking noise. The noise is due to vibrations being generated somewhere in the belt system - by the belt itself, by a pulley bearing or accessory, or because the belt tensioner is not up to specification. The water temporarily dampens the vibrations. That's about all there is to it.
As we've all been saying here you need to do more troubleshooting to find the source of the noise. Seeing as how that vehicle is nearly 20 years old everything needs to be considered suspect. Even the appearance of the belt itself can't necessarily be trusted because of the way they wear (see the youtube link provided), and even if new sometimes new parts are bad.