Squealing from serpentine belt

[SneakyPete13]

Hello, new owner of a 94 RT/10. Thank you for all the support amply available just looking at various threads. Saw a thread about what to do as soon as somebody gets a Gen 1/2 and did the power steering pump pulley and bracket upgrade (machined Aluminum). Since then I've noticed a squealing starting at a certain RPM (above 1200 or so). At idle and at very low revs there is no squealing whatsoever. The squealing doesn't seem to be increasing in pitch with revs either. Just by hovering over the engine I think it is definitely coming from the serpentine belt. The obvious answers given with "conventional vehicles" are misaligned pulleys, old/worn belt, tensioner issues etc. Before replacing the belt (as the first try), wanted to know if this is normal at all with the billet pulley, or something I should definitely look into immediately. Thank you in advance!

 

[Steve-Indy]

Squeal is not normal with properly installed/aligned billet P/S pulley and bracket.

I would look at tensioner, then idler pulley as possible source.

 

[SneakyPete13]

Thank you Steve! Really appreciate it. Will check both.

 

[Steve-Indy]

Agree with replacing the belt as well. I have done this before, and if the old belt is grossly intact, put it in the car as a spare.

 

[SneakyPete13]

Awesome. Will do that as well. Relatively cheap insurance for something major that could come up.

 

[Real_Maverick]

Did you need to replace the pulley? I thought the gen 1s had metal from the factory and gen 2's had the plastic one that would break.

 

[Steve-Indy]

Real_Maverick, you are correct in that the Gen I P/S pulley is metal. Some keep it and just replace the bracket while some replace both as SneakyPete13 did.

On Gen II's, one should always replace both...before either OEM piece breaks.

P.S. please note that the 1996 R/T 10 (Gen 1.5 ) has the same plastic pulley as do the Gen II Vipers.