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I have a 03 Civic LX with 150k miles and recently I have been hearing a distant squeak coming from the drive belt area. The squeaking noise only happens around 2000 rpm with a light foot and part load, such as going up a slight incline. Having the A/C on changes the behavior of the noise a bit. The belt probably has never been changed but do you guys know if just changing the belt will make the noise go away or there are some pulleys that may be going bad?

 
Rep Power: 284

There's always the potential that a pulley is going bad, but most likely it's the belts.

First, try just tightening the belt using the wing nut below the alternator, if I remember correctly you can use a 14mm combination wrench. If that doesn't work, spray belt dressing on it and see if that affects the noise, if it decreases that suggests it's the belt. No change in the noise at that point begins to suggest it's the pulley bearing, to test that take the belt off and run the engine, if the noise is still there that's the source.

 
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Thanks man. I will try the tension then the dressing. Hopefully that fixes the squeak.

 
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Hey I had something similar to your problem. I had a squeaky noise all the time and it was louder with the ac on. I took it to the mechanic and it turned out a loose bolt was pulling on the belt or on it. He says he doesn't know how it had happened. He fixed it, he said It could of snapped the belt and damaged under the hood. Saved me thousands of dollars in possible damages.

 
Rep Power: 192

Yeah probably a belt or pulley. Tends to happen on an older car.

150k and original drive belts? WOW. It's usually no big deal if they break, but 150k on a timing belt is way overdue and can do serious damage to your valves/pistons if it breaks while your driving.

Most people change drive belts when they do the timing belt so just something to think about.

 
Rep Power: 811

ive had the alternator bolt back out on its own to the point where it was almost falling off. and ofcourse it caused the belt to squeak. if the dressing spray changes the belt noise, its the tension. usually belts dont make noise even when old. its the tension (too tight or loose) that causes the problem. the alt and a/c share the same belt. ps has its own.