belt squeek problems

[crashandburn_01]

has anyone had any belt slippage/squeeking prblems with the factory accessory drive. i have an 87 camaro w/ an ls1 conversion using all factory drive brackets but have an aftermarket oe equivilent alternator i keep having squeeking problems with the belt and have changed the alternator a few times and the noise stops for a day or so but comes right back. if i spray the alt pulley with a tiny squirt of brake clean it immediately stops then starts again. i have gone through 5 belts and 8 alternators and keep having this problem. i think it may have to do with the painted alternator pulleys on the reman alternators. if anyone has had this problem please help it is driving me nuts.

[0rion]

the first thing I would do is narrow it down definitely to the alternator. By spraying it the belt is carrying the spray to all of the pulleys so I wouldn't necessarily trust that. I'd use a long handled screwdriver and put the handle to my ear and touch it around to the different pulleys to find the culprit. I'd also make sure you don't have an idler or tensioner pulley wobbling just a little bit that might be contributing to your problem. Are your belts wearing on the sides? If so I'd look at the idler and tensioner pulleys pretty close.

[crashandburn_01]

i've tried the screwdriver and a mechanics stethiscope but can't really tell, the squeal only happens when i first start it and on decel from 2000 rpm to 1200 rpm. also it seems to be worse after cruising for a while. the whole accessory system is new (tensioner, idler, waterpump, alternator, and power steering, all the brackets, and all the corresponding pulleys, and all is gm parts or oe equiv. aftermarket replacement parts) and the conversion only has 1100 miles on it. the belt shows no sign of side wear just glaze on the ribs from slipping i've chec ked belt alignment and everything looks ok. the original pulley i had for the alternator had a bare metal finish and never had a problem until the alternator went bad and started getting painted pulleys on everyone since then (a total of seven since)

[Cutlass]

Gatorback belt will fix the noise

[vetteemt]

Gatorback belt will fix the noise

I've had other cars do this and replacing the belt with a Gatorback fixed it. Gatorback belts are the best I've ever seen. Also changing the belt is the easiest thing to try first, if it does not fix it then you are probably looking at a bad pulley which are normally a pain to change.

[crashandburn_01]

i've tried gatorbacks and 4 other brands of belts including gm, dayco, and 2 others with no change and the gatorback seemed to be the worst of them all i'm going nuts with this problem and the noise can be heard over my stereo and before you ask, no, belt dressing just made it worse a friend told me to have the pulley bead blasted to remove all the black paint on the belt area and this should fix it any comments

[vetteemt]

If you have tried belts and that did not fix it. Its going to be a bad pulley.

[crashandburn_01]

thanks for the help guys , i had the pulley blasted to remove the powdercoating and roughen it up a little , fixed it right away , know for next time,ps stay away from aftermarket alternators with coated pulleys