Jay Carter

Sorry if this has been answered before. About a week ago I noticed a squeak that sounded like the serpantine belt, I have replaced and put conditioner on a new belt and still have the squeak. I will add that when the wheels are turned the squeak stops for a few seconds then starts again, I have checked power steeeing fluid levels and its full. Until the engine gets hot the squeak only occurs at 1500 rpm or higher but once warm it will squeak at idle. The car is a q7 3.6 with 100,000 miles. Any help would be greatly appreciated

cuatrokoop

Just replacing a belt would not cure a squeak. The squeak comes from a failing bearing.

Jay Carter

So would it be reasonable to assume that replacing the pulley on the power steering pump would solve it? It just seems that there is something with the pump causing the squeak since that's the only time it quits.

Dudeness30

Most likely an idler pulley, when the belt is off spin the pulleys by hand to see which one has a dry sound.

cuatrokoop

No, if the noise is coming solely from the PS pump, the pump would need bearings replaced. It does happen from time to time. Or it's cavitation, which would be oil starve for the pump. Easy thing would be to check your PS oil level, make sure than when cold it is near the full mark.

cuatrokoop

Agree, or a mechanic's stethoscope at the bolt for each idler.

J. Patterson

It CAN be a pulley. I had a Toyota Tundra that had an idler pulley replaced under warranty because of belt to pulley noise. The sound was almost metallic but was really the belt grabbing in the pulley grooves. When it is squeaking spray a bit of water on the grooved side of the belt. If it stops immediately, case closed. Figuring out which pulley may be harder.

cuatrokoop

What you described is due to the belt slipping on the pulley, which is from either improper tension or an out of spec bearing. Either way, the belt would be going faster than the pulley. If they replaced the pulley, I would suspect the bearing to have been the root cause.

J. Patterson

Nope. Tension was correct. Multi groove belts can get noisy without slipping. It would chirp with or without the ac compressor load. It’s usually wear in the belt grooves but on the Tundra it was the idler. Don’t mean to be argumentative. Just describing what I have seen. :-)

Willgatlin25

I’ve developed a subtle chirping from my serpentine belt too. Root cause was due to degreasing and cleaning my engine bay. Over time your engine will naturally pick up a bit of road grime and oil and it will get in and around the pulleys keeping them generally quiet. Wash all that stuff off and you’ve washed away all that “natural” lubrication in and around your belt and pulleys.
Simple fix for me was to replace the serpentine belt just as a preventative measure and spray a touch of belt conditioner around the serpentine belt. Problem solved.
Not all chirping or squealing is due to a faulty or failing pulley / tensioner. Of course check your pulleys and make sure you don’t have heavy resistance and that your tensioner is actually moving as it should. When was the last time you replaced the belt?