# 2001 pathfinder belt squeal



## aix (Feb 19, 2010)

Hello. I recently replaced my 2001 pathfinder's alternator with one from a salvage yard. Yes bad idea I know, but due to lack of funds that was my only option to get the car back on the road. I replaced the belt as well while it was off. I used an autozone belt. Now when I start the car it squeals then it will stop for a few minutes, but if I cut the lights on, or the fan on past 2 it starts again. once I cut them off, it stops. I have tried belt dressing and white lithium grease on the belts/pulleys. The other thing is I do not have an ac belt connected as the compresser has gone out. The belt would squeal on start up prior to swaping out the alternator but not with the lights on or the fan on. Some sites are saying that the belt could be at fault since it is not an OEM, but I am leaning more towards the alternator pulley being bad. If anyone has any suggestions or something I could test please let me know. Thanks.


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## Platinum_Racing (Jul 6, 2008)

The belt tensioner is too loose. Adjust belt tension using the diagram below. A good referance is you should just BARELY be able to rotate the longest open section of the belt 90 degrees (Perpendicular) to the pulley's. If you can pinch the belt in your fingers, and twist it more than 90 degrees, or if there is more than 1" of deflection when you push on the belt, the belt must be tightened. The belt is not at fault, it just needs to be tighter. When you put load or stress on the alternator it becomes harder for the belt to rotate. If the belt is loose it doesn't get enough traction to rotate the alternator under load, so it slips causing the screeching you hear when you turn on the headlights or heater fan. I bet if you use 2 or more power windows at the same time it will make the same noise. 

I'll admit, Duralast parts from Autozone aren't the best quality, but they're like the generic brand Ibuprofen at the drug store, or the store brand milk at the grocery store. The grocery store and drug store don't make the products they put their names on, another major brand does. The store just goes to the lowest bidder to find the best deal they can slap their name on. Same with Autozone. If you buy an Autozone brand belt it's probably you're regular old belt from a giant belt manufacturer like Mitsuboshi (Not a misspelling, they're a real belt maker). The problem with Duralast parts is they are sometimes the products that other companies don't want to put their names on. Parts that might still be good and work fine, but didn't pass their quality control for one reason or another. This isn't so much the case with remanufactured parts like alternators, starters, power steering pumps or A/C compressors, but for spark plug wires, spark plugs, oil filters, oil, and belts this might be the case. In your specific case, the belt you bought could very well be a brand name belt like Mitsuboshi that is just a tad too big in overall diameter. Mitsuboshi doesn't want to sell that part with their name on it because they have a reputation to uphold and product guarantees to honor. At the same time they don't want to throw them away, so they sell them to AutoZone for pennies on the dollar to make their money back on the manufacturing costs. AutoZone tuns around and slaps their name on it and sells it to you on the cheap because they bought it on the cheap. In the end, the belt will work fine, you just need to tighten up your belt tensioner a tad. A perfect example is the company I work for. We are a machine shop who makes OEM parts for giant jet engine manufacturers (I won't name names, but you've flown on aircraft with our parts in them, helicopters, jumbo jets, military aircraft, you name it). When we make a part that doesn't meet our quality standards we have options. If the part is structurally sound and the defect doesn't impact engine performance, longevity, durability, or reliability (Like an irreversible visual defect or a hole that doesn't matter that's out of location) we sell the parts to our customers at a reduced rate. This is called a "Concession". When we make a part that doesn't conform to our quality standards and it _does_ impact engine performance, longevity, and/or durability (Like a dimensional non-conformance or thin material) we scrap the part and take what we can for scrap metal. The point here is the parts you bought are good, they're just not as good. It doesn't mean they won't last as long or that they are inferior, it just means someone somewhere didn't like them and decided to make their money back by selling them to Autozone for pennies on the dollar.


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## BandS13lover (Sep 27, 2007)

You have to tighten the shit out of those belts seriously... I had to many many times.


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## AmandaNicole (Jan 18, 2011)

Platinum_Racing said:


> When you put load or stress on the alternator it becomes harder for the belt to rotate. If the belt is loose it doesn't get enough traction to rotate the alternator under load, so it slips causing the screeching you hear when you turn on the headlights or heater fan. I bet if you use 2 or more power windows at the same time it will make the same noise.


 
I did a little test and noticed that when i turn the fan down to 2 it stops squealing, that is until i turn the wheel.....is the power sterring pump drawing on the alternator too? Anything else other than the obvious electrical like the radio wipers lights etc. 
And why does that extra load cause the squeal?


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