'05 Sport Trac Squealing

[J.J. Bishop]

I have a 2005 Sport Trac with 150k miles, was overheating last week and had to replace the thermostat, since then it has started squealing while accelerating, was not a problem before it overheated. Thought it was maybe the serpentine belt, bought some belt conditioner and sprayed it on, only seemed to make noise worse. Noise is almost nothing while idling, any thoughts on what it could be and how to fix it on my own?

 

[koda2000]

Belt conditioner is not for serpentine belts. Putting it on may have made it slip/squeal more.

Did the belt get antifreeze on it?

 

[J.J. Bishop]

Belt conditioner is not for serpentine belts. Putting it on may have made it slip/squeal more.

Did the belt get antifreeze on it?

Not sure about antifreeze, definitely feel like it got some oil on it when it overheated. Possible that more anitfreeze could have gotten on it when the thermostat was replaced, not sure though because I did not do the work myself.

 

[429CJ-3X2]

I would check to be sure the belt is on each of the pulleys correctly. If it's off 1 groove on 1 pulley, it will squeal. Might have to look close to see it. I had this happen on my '94 Explorer.

 

[koda2000]

Replace the belt if all else fails (degrease/clean the pulleys too). There's no reason overheating/replacing the t-stat should have gotten any oil on the belt, but antifreeze is pretty slippery stuff too.

 

[swshawaii]

Also check ALL pulleys for binding after you remove the belt. Idler pulleys and belt tensioners are somewhat common failures.

 

[sr139fox]

Could the bearing on the belt tensioner be bad? Check the bearing on the AC. Does it squeal when the AC is running?
Dave P.