[spectra_freak]

Any help is appreciated. The other day it was quite rainy and damp. Later that night, when I started my car I heard what sounded like chirping coming from my engine bay. It sounded like a constant chirping or squeaking. It only happens when the car is in neutral, or when the clutch is in. Once I put it in 1st and let off on the clutch, it goes away. When it's dry out the noise no longer exists. What's going on?

 

[Chris25NJ]

belt tensioner, known isssue....there's a TSB on it......bring it to the dealer, they will replace it under the 36k warranty. Look in the TSB section, I found it in there a while ago, and printed it out and brought it with me.

 

[spectra_freak]

Ouch. I have 56,000 miles on the car, so it won't be under warranty. I wonder how much that's going to cost.

 

[Chris25NJ]

i had 60K miles....luckily i have a 100K mile warranty through warrantydirect.com...they covered it....it would have costed about 350

 

[spectra_freak]

Why does it chirp only on damp days? I'm confused about that.

 

[Baldhead_J]

Belt tensioner always squels on damp days. If your dealership is cool, they'll fix it under warrantee or not because it's a known problem.

 

[spectra_freak]

Thanks...I'll have to have them check it out. Hopefully I won't get raped for the repair. It sounds

 

[spectra_freak]

I talked to the dealer and it looks like they'll do it for $255.00 which includes the parts and labor.

 

[cloudyy]

ouch 255 for a common problem..does the belt tensioner squeel inevitably after time or only after driving hard? juss wondering cuz i hear about it alot

 

[spectra_freak]

It's a common problem, but it's only under warranty up to 36,0000 miles unless you bought an extended warranty. It appears to happen to every vehicle over time. The mechanic stated that he sees it more often in the GT vehicles, but it happens to the GT-S vehciles too. I'm at 60,000 miles and mine just started to make noise when it's damp out. I've heard of some GT vehicles getting their tensioners done 3 times under warranty (3 times in under 36,000 miles...that's crazy). I'm glad my car went this long before having the problem. It sounds like it was a bad design from Toyota.

 

[SilverBulletGTS]

my belt was squeeling a bit last year, I put some belt dressing on it and it stopped. It just started up again a few days ago and I'm gonna try it again, hoping it still works. If it does work, do you guys think it's all good or still a sign that the tensioner needs replaced? Im at 34000 miles by the way.

 

[ishido]

Replace it, do not delay. Unless you will feel better 3000 miles from now and have to pay over $300 to have it replaced. I tried to get it replaced before they had a TSB... they replaced the belt and then this year it started squealing again... and well out of warranty. Mine was over $300. Print off the TSB, bring it in, tell what problems you are having and that you've had them for a while.

 

[spectra_freak]

my belt was squeeling a bit last year, I put some belt dressing on it and it stopped. It just started up again a few days ago and I'm gonna try it again, hoping it still works. If it does work, do you guys think it's all good or still a sign that the tensioner needs replaced? Im at 34000 miles by the way.

How much belt dressing did you spray, and where? Don't we only have one belt for the car? I don't want to fuhg anything up. Is it easy to do?

 

[SilverBulletGTS]

Yeah, pretty sure we only have one belt (if I'm wrong, my appologies, I'm not as up on this stuff as I'd like to be), I sprayed it on the one visible belt anyway. Anywho, I had to spray it a few times over a few minutes. If I remember correctly it squeeled more for a min or two after each application, but after that it was fine, for a year anyway. If you try this, make sure to get belt dressing that's good for Serpentine belts. As fore replacing the tensioner, I may have them do that to be safe, especially if I take it in for the 30000 mile tuneup (been debating that too). Oh yeah, and my mistake, only around 31400 miles on the car.

 

[ishido]

30,000 mile tuneup isn't much. Most of it you can do yourself. The coolant change is the most important thing. Yes fix the tensioner. Do NOT sit around and play with your **** until you're out of warranty. Get it fixed. Don't wait around and don't spray it and forget about it. It will come back and bite you in the ass. I was pissed the dealer didn't have a TSB back when I was at 35K miles... and they didn't fix it right. One year later I'm paying out of pocket.

 

[spectra_freak]

30,000 mile tuneup isn't much. Most of it you can do yourself. The coolant change is the most important thing. Yes fix the tensioner. Do NOT sit around and play with your **** until you're out of warranty. Get it fixed. Don't wait around and don't spray it and forget about it. It will come back and bite you in the ass. I was pissed the dealer didn't have a TSB back when I was at 35K miles... and they didn't fix it right. One year later I'm paying out of pocket.

I understand your emotion about this topic Ishido, but I'm asking about spraying the belt with dressing because mine IS out of warranty and I don't feel like spending $300 if I can supress the noise for another driving season. They told me that the chirping noise does not effect performance, so I don't want to rush into replacing the belt and tensioner if I don't have to. Let me know if you think the dressing will do for a while.

 

[ishido]

If you are mechanically inclined, you can buy the parts for much cheaper and install it yourself. It does involve using a jack to support the engine since one of the mounts has to be removed.

My unfortunate experience involved me spray the belt and it just got worse very quickly. I think the tensioner gave out all at once one night... I remember hearing a loud rapping noise. Anyway... it went away, but I ended up crossing the line and over-spraying it. Well instead of squealing at idle, it squealed when moving... 10x worse. Nothing more convincing than a PITA belt whine.