Hey guys and gals. Recently I've been having engine squealing issues and have yet to find the problem.

To give you an idea of what I've been through with my xB I'll give you the latest rundown.

I've recently moved to MD so per their inspection down here I needed to change my belts, which I did. Shortly thereafter I experienced charging and electrical issues. Bottom line, my original battery finally died and my alternator was starting to seize up so those were changed also.

After I had everything installed, my car still lets out a squeal when I start it.

It's not a squeak or chirp, but a full blown squeal. To further diagnose the issue I took off my power steering belt and she still squeals so I narrowed it down to the other belt/pulley system. The alternator is brand new so just to be safe I had that tested and that is fine.

When I had the alternator out I inspected the pulley in front of the water pump and there's no excess movement coming from that, however, the belts are now 5 months old and there's glazing starting on the smooth side of the belt. It's a bit much for being only 5 months old so my eyes are aiming toward the pulley connected to the water pump but again, it spins and doesn't seem to give me a problem when I'm turning it by hand.

To further diagnose the issue I thought maybe the belt was too loose or too tight so what I did was tightened her right up and gradually loosened it to the point where my battery light was flickering on the dash(due to the alternator not spinning) and she was still squeaking.

When I start the car up it does one of two things and lets out a chirp for a second or two initially (this happens 5% of the time). The other 95% it will just full on squeal for a good minute and then come to a stop (my thought is the bearings in that pulley or the water pump possibly but I honestly have no idea.)

Outside of taking it to a garage where they charge and arm and a leg down here in MD I thought I'd get your guys opinions first and go from there. I DID buy a new water pump not too long ago in anticipation of changing it. I've read a lot of threads where people have changed out their pumps with low miles. I'm around 87k now so I wouldn't mind changing it anyway, that and it wasn't much so I figured why not?

Anyway hope someone has some pointers or any other thoughts as to where this squeal is coming from. Thanks

 

:*UPDATE*:

I drove her around today and she didn't squeal when she started up, but about a minute later settled into a constant squeal but wasn't as loud as before. If my AC compressor isn't even functioning, can it be the cause of this squeal? Note, I don't have anything inside running while this squeal happens, nor does it affect the squeal should I turn anything on (radio, fan, heat, etc. )

 

I had these very same issues with my xA after I changed the belts last month! What caused it for me was the Alternator belt was cheap and under any tension would squeal on start up and on idle plus the rub and glazing. I changed that sucker for a better brand and goodbye squeal. Did you try a different set of belts?

 

After hearing your diagnosis, sounds like the a/c. What will happen is actually the squealing will go away once your a/c is on, and then when you turn it off, the squealing starts again. Have you tried turning your a/c on at all? If having the a/c on quiets it up, then it's your water pump pulley.

 

@ Caprice I've only ever tried dayco belts. Funny thing is, the guy at the auto place told me the belt looked overly worn for being as young as it is and I asked if he recommended my getting a new one (free under warranty and I had the receipt) he said it should be fine. My wife has an xA as well, the belts are the same for the xA/B so I'll o a quick swap and see if it still squeaks, if that's the case then I guess I'll try a new belt. Thanks for the advice.

@ Criminaltc, if I turn my AC on, nothing happens as the compressor seems to be dead. I haven't had AC in my car since last summer when it finally died out. I checked the pulley manually and it seemed to be in tip top shape, no pull or wear and it didn't squeak or chirp when I turned it, granted I can't put the kind of stress on it a motor and belt can, but there was no sign of wear-age on the pulley itself. Unless the bearings in the compressor are bad then yeah...

 

The very same ones I purchased from AutoZone, Part# 5040478! They're crap!
Get the Gates brand (Got em, very quiet!) if you can or pony up for the OEM ones.

 

Make sure the idler / tensioner pulley bearing is good, I hear they fail once in a while. Usually a squeal just after starting is caused by the alternator pulley being polished from a loose belt and wear and since just after starting it is charging the battery back up it will cause it to squeal more then. You might try bump starting it and it doesn't squeal that narrows it down to the alternator pulley slipping. Sometimes reving the engine in neutral or dropping the rpm down to 500 by slipping the clutch without gas will get the belt to grab and stop the squeal. Keep the lights and brake lights off of course. And as other have said the easy fix for a cheap belt is a new good one.

 

No such thing on our cars.

 

Turns out it was the belt. The more tension I put on the belt to reduce the squeal, the more it frayed. The guy at the auto parts store cut into it and found frayed wire supports. They issued me a refund and what's even better, the local Toyota dealer had OEM belts in stock so I ponied up $35 for it. THe power steering is still Dayco but that's never given me a problem, if it doesn't by next May then I'll ruin it and return it for a refund also, lol. Love 1 year warranties on belts.

A lot of people say that and it's partially true. While there is no tensioner pulley on our cars (unless you have a charger on it) The water-pump pulley is also called the idler pulley. However, unlike a tensioner pulley, you can't adjust the water-pump pulley. The pulley can go bad though and cause glazing so keep an eye out for that if that's ever the case. Your water-pump's more likely to give out before that pulley does though.

In the mid 80's Toyota started crapping out on their bearings for pulleys and they've had issues ever since. If you buy their cars brand new, get JDM or some other pulleys installed and you'll never have issues. Other common issues with these boxes are water pumps seizing and thermostats as most of you may already know.


But the box is back up and squeal/squeak free. Thanks for the assistance!

 

Fricking knew it man! Glad you're back to peace and quiet!

 

If my wife's xA starts to squeal anytime soon (her belts are only 5 months old).. I'll refund those and get OEM ones for her as well... F'n Dayco, I swear! All of this headache for nothing!

 

Although I have not worked on mine yet this post shows a tensioner and adjustments for it

https://www.scionlife.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=166087

 

Well I'll be a monkey's uncle!

 

And today I look and the tensioner pulley is actually the water pump and it runs on the smooth back side of the belt and you do in fact tighten the belt with the alternator bracket.

 

The pic in that thread shows Camry motor. Nothing like our 1nz. On our engines the belt tension is regulated by the alternator adjustment. No idler pulley either. We got main, water pump, A/C compressor and alternator pulleys- that's all.

 

Have this same issue with my wifes 05xB. Belt was squealing, replaced it with one from Orielly's only for it to start squealing again now a month later. Guess I'll have to buck up and buy one from the stealership.

 

**This will not repair a bad belt but**
I often use a product from Gunk called Belt Conditionner, this stuff is great it keeps the belt in good shape like the first day you bought it. It will prevent the belt from cracking, also sometimes water gets into the belt and could make it squeak, it removes all water!