I have a Miata,1995, that originally had air conditioning. When I bought it the compressor was gone. I have removed the rest of that system. If it had power steering that was removed by a previous owner. So the only belt left is for the alternator. About every 2 weeks it will begin to squeal on start up. I get my 12mm wrench and tighten it. I have changed belts several times in the 4 years,50,000 miles that I have driven it. Is this normal? If not what should I do?
mine makes an indeterminant squeal every once in a while too... but mine seems to happen at speed and under load... I have yet to track down the cause.
Are you locking the alternator down after adjusting the belt? Both the bottom pivot bolt and the one through the adjuster should be tightened.
Yes, I am locking it down with both bolts. It has occurred with both of the engines that I have had in the car.
MAZDA - DRIVE BELT NOISE: 1993 – 2005 Mazda Miata and Protégé have drive belt pulleys that are designed with deeper grooves than the standard SAE specified pulley. Many times this will cause belt noise from the replacement belts (OE and aftermarket) because the pulley is re-profiling or reshaping the belt during initial run-in. Dayco has re engineered this part number with additional layers of material along with increasing the rib depth from .080 to .100 inches. Replace with Dayco #5040350 (Dayco Engineering Department, November 2008)
In reply to MCarp22:
Thank you.
MCarp22 wrote: MAZDA - DRIVE BELT NOISE: 1993 – 2005 Mazda Miata and Protégé have drive belt pulleys that are designed with deeper grooves than the standard SAE specified pulley. Many times this will cause belt noise from the replacement belts (OE and aftermarket) because the pulley is re-profiling or reshaping the belt during initial run-in. Dayco has re engineered this part number with additional layers of material along with increasing the rib depth from .080 to .100 inches. Replace with Dayco #5040350 (Dayco Engineering Department, November 2008)
Wow, thanks... this would explain the horrendous squeal I'm getting on my 2003 Protege - I was afraid I was going to snap something off if I kept tightening the belt!
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