Little help needed, what does this sound like?

[kjmac]

Hi all,

So my car currently sounds like this when cold:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXaUn1vvQBo

Horrid in other words, that screechy sound I'm assuming is the serpentine belt on its last legs? Does that sound right? How much would a replacement belt be? Monkfish?

I've asked a garage to get a belt in, but they've kept me waiting two weeks and am getting impatient. Not keen on getting stranded.

Opinions welcome!

Ken

[kjmac]

Actually it sounds exactly like this:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJs6MOPbwxI&feature=related

What kind of damage are we talking about if this thing flys off?

[wilsog]

hm. sounds like mine. not necessarily when cold but when the alternator is under load. I put the battery on charge overnight and the squeek was much less when i started it in the morning. I might try some 'belt grip' belt conditioning spray to see if it improves things. usually the go down hill fast once the start squeeking. Its probably, also, a sign the battery may be on the way out, requiring more charge to bring it up to 'full'. mine is an 07 vxr.
standing by with CO2 extinguisher ready for the flameing anyway and sorry for the punctuation, i've had a drink and typing one handed .

[S800VXR]

Sounds like the alternator is having to work hard and the belt is worn. BTW - the belts easy to fit yourself! Id get the battery checked as well... oh and VX are your best and cheapest option for a battery.

[neiljohnson]

kjmac said:

Actually it sounds exactly like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJs6MOPbwxI&fea...

What kind of damage are we talking about if this thing flys off?

Depends how lucky you are if the belt does fail it depends on weather it just comes off or if it gets caught up and wraps itself around something.
On the other side you will lose your power steering which can be very serious, if your in the middle of a manouvere and the steering suddenly loads up. Could be a 'brown trouser' moment.

[monkfish1]

S800VXR said:

Sounds like the alternator is having to work hard and the belt is worn. BTW - the belts easy to fit yourself! Id get the battery checked as well... oh and VX are your best and cheapest option for a battery.

Not any more. Nearly doubled in price!

[El Diablo]

Mine also does this when cold. has anyone come up with a conclusion as to what the noise is for sure, rather than it could be this or that???? I wanna sort it asap before it dumps me at the side of a motorway.

[Cv8 mike]

My moneys on the air con belt / pulleys not the big belt driving the alt and pas.
Sounds just like mine and gets a little quieter with the a/c off. If you want to find the culprit take off the plastic cover over the rad and spray the pulleys one at a time with wd fitted with a straw so you don't get too much on the belt. Mine was the idler pulley but now it's the tensioner pulley. Cheap crappy plastic pulleys fitted by GM.

[kjmac]

Cheers for the responses and ideas guys! I'll do some investigating and report back. Annoyingly, just before my warranty ran out I'd taken the car to a vaux dealer to have this noise looked at (it was much quieter then and only happened when completely cold). The vaux dealer found nowt, didn't replace a thing and charged me a £80 investigation fee. Words fail me. So now I'm going to pay up for this twice effectively.

[s55shh]

kjmac said:

Cheers for the responses and ideas guys! I'll do some investigating and report back. Annoyingly, just before my warranty ran out I'd taken the car to a vaux dealer to have this noise looked at (it was much quieter then and only happened when completely cold). The vaux dealer found nowt, didn't replace a thing and charged me a £80 investigation fee. Words fail me. So now I'm going to pay up for this twice effectively.

If you reported the fault to them before the warranty ran out, then the fault existed before the warranty ran out. Take it back...

[Drew SS]

its the aircon belt mine does the same but not as loud as that how do i no i pulled the belt off and replaced it...after being on there for 7 years

[Tattooboy]

kjmac said:

Cheers for the responses and ideas guys! I'll do some investigating and report back. Annoyingly, just before my warranty ran out I'd taken the car to a vaux dealer to have this noise looked at (it was much quieter then and only happened when completely cold). The vaux dealer found nowt, didn't replace a thing and charged me a £80 investigation fee. Words fail me. So now I'm going to pay up for this twice effectively.

Take your car back to the dealer who looked at it and charged you £80 and found bugger all, it should still be on their computer and therefore you can argue that it was reported under warranty yet nothing was found and now it's worse. Speak to the service manager when you go and kick up a bit of a stink in the garage, they may take a look free of charge !

[Del-Dredd]

Mine makes a similar noise although not as loud when cold, its the top right pulley as far as i can tell on mine
used a squirt of WD on pulley centre as mentioned.
Been like it two years, is a little annoying should get pulley changed i suppose
No idea why its only when cold though, after driven 10-15 miles it stops making the noise.

Del

[petrolzed]

I had a similar noise on my Monaro, only when cold, drove me mad, it was worn belts, car was still under warranty but GM would not pay up as they considered it a consumeable item.
Dealer changed them and charged be 30mins labour plus parts, £90 all in.
Which vauxhall dealer did you take it too? It has to be a Monaro specalist otherwise they know bugger all about them.

[kjmac]

I had taken it to a 'vxr dealer', but wasn't impressed as mentioned

I think I'd rather forget the dealer network and get this sorted myself, I don't really want to have anything to do with vaux. They've wasted too much of my time and money in the past. Let's not forget this is the same garage that kept my car in pieces for weeks because there were struggling to find some bolts. When I found out I was able to get them the next day somehow...

Even if they paid for the work it wouldn't be worth it with regards to my personal time, and the time the vehicle would be off the road.

[kjmac]

Car's fixed!

New serpentine accessory belt thing - £14.10
New a/c belt £13.50
0.75 hrs labour, £37.50

Car not sounding like a mid 90's ford escort squealing away - priceless!

Sadly the independent garage I was using had ordered the bits from Vauxhall, which resulted in a 3 week wait due to crossed wires / things getting lost 'in the system' etc! If I'd realised it was going to be such a ballache I'd have ordered from Monkfish and had the parts next day... be warned everyone!

K