My car only makes its squealing noise at night, when it's cold out, and when my rpm's get above 2k. Do you guys think this' a loose belt issue or a bearing? I'm still unclear on where the bearing is; is it around the shafts the pulleys are bolted to? If it's a bearing issue, what's the best way to track down if it's a tensioner or a pulley?

 

see..above^ you will find the problem....

Intermittant squeals are usually due to increased loads on the belt system.
for instance....at night you are running your lights..the alternator has to work harder...therefore it becomes harder to turn...soo...you get squeals at night...or whenever you turn on the lights....

One woman described a squeal to me that only occured in the winter on cold mornings...well...she had much bigger problems after letting it go for several weeks...It turns out that whoever replaced the coolant did not put enough antifreeze in the mix....water was frozen in the water pump housing and locked the pulley solid until she got a few miles down the road....

I had to replace the waterpump, belts, pulleys, radiator, hoses by the time she decided to do something about it. She said to me...I was wondering what the burning rubber smell was......................she had just had the cooling system worked on the summer before...and she had to do it all over again. She was lucky the block didn't crack.

 

I've removed the AC and PS belts and the squeeling is still there, so it must be related to the alternator belt I guess. However, since that last belt doesn't have a belt tensioner, how do I get it off and retension it?

 

the belt is loose.. the adjustment is with the alternator.. loosen the alternator and use a prybar to tighten the tension and tighten the bolts for the alternator.. just dont over tightne the belt.. you can mess up the waterpump if you do...

 

Does the sound come from the front cover maybe? ...like it might be the timing chain?

I recently swapped an engine (this last weekend) and the new engine the guy had built wasn't put together very well. Somehow he put a new timing set in, and the tensioner popped clear out of the holder and was jammed against the curved slack side chain guide. That chain felt really tight at the top... I knew something must be up. anyway, we started it up and you could hear that timing chain whine. It ran good.. but I'm glad we tore it open again to fix the problem. The little tensioner was torn to shreds. He had to change the oil again and put in a new chain and tensioner. What a mess. Should have been a one day job, turned into two very long days in the garage....

 

I'm fairly certain it's related to the belts; when I hosed everything down with silicone lubricant, it usually quiets it down temporarily.

 

Ok, I've removed the upper sliding arm bolt of the alternator, and loosened the lower bolt. But I can't get the darn thing to budge in either direction! Am I missing another bolt or something I'm supposed to loosen?

 

There are two bolts on the lower mount of the alternator. If you can't move it with only one bolt in place, that thing is in tight! Replace both lower bolts and don't tighten them THAT much.