Hi, 91 Accord EX-R has a squealing serpentine/fan belt issue. Both belts seem tight, less than 1/2 inch of play. I haven't tried to tighten them up yet for fear of making them too tight. Belts appear to be in good condition but I don't know their history as we recently aquired the car. The squealing went on for longer this morning (45-60 seconds), likely as a result of the colder weather today, and then went away. Any suggestions on the most likely cause? Thanks!

 

Glazed belts/pulleys. Misaligned pulleys. Half an inch sounds like it might be too much, the spec for my Accord is 10mm of deflection with 10kg of force. Though if as a result of slipping the pulleys are glazed, you'd have to address that.

 

Great thanks! Any thoughts on how to address pulley glaze?

 

Maybe a bad tensioner too. The bearing blew up in mine last month and made my belt squeal like crazy.

 

These engines do not have tensioner pulleys on ether of the accessory belts. So I'm not sure what bearings you are referring too. Unless you are talking about the timing belt.

Start the car and spray some WD-40 on the belt while it's screeching. If the noise stops, replace the belt.... I will have to be honest here, I have never heard of a pulley on an Accord require any sort of de-glazing... Replace the belt and tension properly and you are good to go!

 

No I was thinking the wrong car. I apologize.

 

OK, sounds good. I may get to it this weekend. Just squeals on start-up for 5 to 10 seconds. Thanks!

 

My power steering pump O-Ring failed and it leaked power steering fluid everywhere out of the pump and the resevoir. Drips right down onto the belts below and makes a nice squeal now!! You could try taking the belt off and spraying with degreaser then hosing it down? Or just tighten it up a little bit, on my '02 Accord it said leave a maximum of 1/4" of play, so you could get away with tightening it up just a bit. The way to tell if its overtightened is when power steering fluid starts to bubble in resevoir.

 

If you could find the gatorbacks, those are nice and quiet when replacing. If not, you might have to go to Ebay.

 

Almost every CB7 Accord I see where I live tends to squeal very bad in the cold. I've seen one where the belt looks good and tight, and still squeals. Makes me think, it's a bad pulley. But I could be wrong.

 

My car squeal every now and then but that's normal during early mornings. My belts tension is good and relatively new Gatorback belts.

 

The alternator was replaced just prior to getting the car but I couldn’t say if the belt or belts were replaced at that time. The belt on the alternator looks to be in great condition so I was assuming it was new but who knows. Strange thing is I got a running parts car (92 Accord) and when you start it its belts squeal for 5 or 10 seconds too.