Hi All,

I have a 1996 Blazer LT, about 3 months ago I noticed when I start it in the morning there is a loud sqaling noise from the engine area until the truck comes up to temp. Then it goes away.

About a year or more ago I replaced a bad water pump, was leaking. There is no issue with the cooling, alternator is charging with no issues and the belt was changed when the pump was.

Anythoughts, another water pump?

Mark.

 

my altinator did that.... it charged fine but it squealed when you first started and then it would be fine.

 

maybe that condensation accumulated on the belt, causing it to slip until the condensation either evaporated from the heat of it warming up or was slung off by the spinning of the belt. That has happened to me before. Except that it rained the night before and that is where the condensation came from for me.

 

This is almost always caused by a bad belt steming from an oil or cooland leak. If you're SURE there are no leaks throw a belt on it.

What 1996bzr said makes perfect sence also.

 

What lastcoupe said and check the tensioner. I had a tensioner on a lumina fall apart
and of course the belt went everywhere. I just replaced the belt on my 96 and it is
very quiet now.

 

I've had a tensioner start to go and it was a TAD bit crooked when you looked at the belt from the side of the truck you could see it was a HAIR off center where the tensioner was so it was kickin' the belt over and causing it to rub up against the side of a pully and did it to me!

 

I have encountered two sweeling noises on my '98 first it was the belt tensioner, it did not seem bad until I released the tension, then it literally fell to the ground. The only thing holding it together was the tensionthealternatorthough I thought it was still good, it wasn't, the squealing was just part of the signs that it was going until it finally was gone. I would take the alternator out have it tested at the parts store to confirm, the bearings to go bad in them.

 

my 96 does the same thing,sqeals like a stuck pig for awhile,the colder it gets the more it sqeals..its the A/C compressor on mine..I found it by spaying electric motor cleaner on everything,as soon as I hit the AC with it,the sqealing stops,bearings are going.Im just gonna put an bypass pully on it for now

 

Bad bearings on any pulley will growl....not squeel, and the noise would not go away when it gets hot,....it would get worse typically,.... because of the metal expanding when it gets hot. I guess it could be just about anything that is rotating on the front of the engine, but as I said before this is usually the belt.

 

Thanks for the advice, for $20 I will replace the belt and look at the tensioner at the same time. I hope it is not a bum pump!

Regards,
m.