I have found that all vehicles talk to us, trying to tell what they need. What they say should not be ignored. For example, if your trad boils over, it is telling you it is overheating and that shouldn't be silenced by using (shiver) a waterless coolant like Evans. The cause should be investigated and cured like any symptom. If you have a squeak somewhere..why not track it down? I could go on
If your fan belt shrieks and squeals at you, it is trying hard to help you help it. It should be investigated rather telling it to hush by using belt dressing or "spit". Conservative doctrine says these belts should be changed in a set amount of mileage or age. But I am like Luddite. I carry an extra under my seat and swap it in when the one on the engine pleads for help or fails. Fan belts, like tyres, age used or not. The resin in them dries out and super tiny little cracks occur, allowing them to stretch in usage or blow and leak in the case of tyres.
The reasons for noisy fan belt are too important to ignore and ending the noise with a spray is akin to using scotch tape on a cracked sump. Aside from the shrieking, squealing and chirping, the belts slip on the alternator, prejudicing the car's electrical power. Or it slips on the coolant pump pulley, allowing the car to overheat..or both simultaneously. In my experience, shrieking is the result of a too loose belt. I want to know about that. The only exception to looseness is a wonky pulley or something turned by the belt as gone awry.
I still use a bar to pry my alternator until the belt is tight enough, as properly described above. However, there are aftermarket add-ons one can use to make the job elegant and easy! I keep meaning to buy one.
https://shorturl.at/gIB7N They do away for the need of a pry bar.
Lorne
