# Belt Squealing when A/C is on



## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

Pulling the dipstick is a test. Pulling the dipstick releases pressure from the crankcase. Either the seals are leaking, or the PCV valve is malfunctioning to cause it to over-pressurize.


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## jblackburn (Apr 14, 2012)

Serpentine tensioners have been failing on these cars. Mine chirps with the AC on sometimes - haven't replaced it yet.


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## Chevy Customer Care (Oct 29, 2011)

FrozenInSoDak said:


> Hello Cruze community.
> 
> A quick synopsis of howI got here. I just purchased my 2012 Chevy Cruze Eco in January. I currently have 65,000 miles on it and haven't had much trouble with the car. However, the summer has been unforgiving in South Dakota. We have had many hot, hot weeks.
> 
> ...


Hi FrozenInSoDak, 

We truly apologize for the unexpected concerns, and can understand how frustrating this may seem for you. Especially when the dealership is having some trouble pin-pointing the cause. If you should need any assistance, feel free to send us a private message along with your VIN, current mileage, contact information and preferred dealership. We look forward to your updates and response! 

Patsy G
Chevrolet Customer Care


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## wlovell75 (Sep 1, 2014)

I had the exact same problem with my 2012 Cruze LTZ. I had it in two different dealers four times and they did nothing for me. I knew it was the belt tensioner. I gave up on trying to get anything done and replaced the belt tensioner (55565236) and the belt (55578811). I haven't heard any noises since.


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## NickD (Dec 10, 2011)

Ha, thought I wrote a book on this subject, but maybe I forgot to hit Post Quick Reply. Have to make sure your condenser and radiator are insect free in particular hot weather, can't have air conditioning without air flow. A very old unsolved problem with condensers. High side pressures can hit over 400 PSI really putting a strain on the belt drive system.

Based on the statement, you only have problems when that temperature rises. Weak tensioner will also cause this. Easy to check with a torque wrench, or I forgot, mechanics don't know how to read.

Sealed ball bearings made in China is now over a 20 year old problem, thank you Mr. Clinton for this. If you are wondering where your old tin cans or disk drives ended up, look at those races and balls. Needs a Rockwell hardness of at least 60 and good ole Made in the USA grease. For all you know, are using animal fat.


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## _MerF_ (Mar 24, 2015)

Yeah, first thing's first...check your belt tension. It's only slightly easier and cheaper than tearing apart the bottom end of your engine looking for blown gaskets.

:question: Why do folks skip the easy and obvious to go straight to doomsday scenarios?


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## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

_MerF_ said:


> :question: Why do folks skip the easy and obvious to go straight to doomsday scenarios?


You mean the ones covered by powertrain warranty? The test I suggested is super easy. If it doesn't point to a pressure problem, then proceed to the belt test.


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## NickD (Dec 10, 2011)

ChevyGuy said:


> You mean the ones covered by powertrain warranty? The test I suggested is super easy. If it doesn't point to a pressure problem, then proceed to the belt test.


Tried to find the precise torque in foot-pounds for the tensioner in the shop manual, gave up after a half an hour. Typically its around 100 ft.-lbs. One indication of a weak spring is to watch the tensioner and have an assistant kick on the AC, if that tensioner jumps, its the problem. 

Other vehicles I have owned with this crazy single belt drive system had an operating range gauge where the pointer would go to minimum meaning your belt has stretched and has to be replaced. Ha, the belt on my 1965 air compressor stretched out just a couple of years ago so I ran out of adjustment range. Darn thing only lasted 48 years.

Also had belt squeak in my 82 454 CID motorhome, just put in new belts ten years ago, but all three were loose. PS pump on its own belt, AC compressor on its own belt, and the water pump and alternator on a shared belt were all loose. Each has a pivot and an adjustment bolt. Had to dig out my pry bar to set all three correctly. Was kind of a PITA, because only the rear 3/4 of the engine is exposed in this thing, really had to stretch to get at the front of it.

Said I am getting too old for stuff like this, but been saying this for the last 60 years. AC belt on the motorhome only squealed when I first switched it on, is your squealing all the time? Least if that belt breaks, still can drive this thing, can't do this with the Cruze nor any other vehicle with a single belt drive system. You will crack your aluminum head. 

73 Fleetwood had five drive belts, most important was for the water pump, also had the fan on it and the alternator. Wondered why they put this one on the inside, had to remove the four outer ones to get at it. Compressor idler pulley pulley did seize on the thing, put this one on the outside, maybe they figured this would be the first. But at least I still could drive this car, was like 30 miles from home.

Ever since then, I have been popping off the seals on bearings, clean out whatever grease was inside, checked the balls and races for pits, rare to find this. Than pack them full with Wolf's high temperature wheel bearing grease, then they would last forever.


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## tbrenn2013 (Aug 26, 2015)

I just got mine back from the shop today. If it sounds like a squeak that's coming from the underside of your car while in drive/reverse, with A/C on and your wheel cranked, it's your crank seal. That's what my dealership told me. Luckily, if you're under 100k miles, it's covered under powertrain warranty! And my dealer was even nice enough to give me another Cruze while my Cruze was in the shop!


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## NickD (Dec 10, 2011)

While engine oil is well noted for preventing squeaks, if it gets on the sheaves or the belt, this will squeak like crazy.

You have a crankshaft front seal that is leaky oil? This would certainly get on the belt. This can be checked in two or less seconds. 

Front seals are easy to change, but not the case with the rear seal.


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## Terryk2003 (Sep 22, 2014)

Wife had a similar issue on her sonic 1.4, except hers did it with AC on in gear with foot on the brake, if you turned AC off or took foot off break or put in neutral it would stop. Ended up taking it in under warranty and they replaced the crank seal. Co-Worker also had the crank seal replaced on his 14 Cruze for the same thing.


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## NickD (Dec 10, 2011)

Front crankshaft seal leak would drip oil on the part of the under engine shield that was not butchered off that could lead to an under hood fire. 

Not saying this could happen, just basing it on logic they used to butcher the shield in the first place.


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## tbrenn2013 (Aug 26, 2015)

NickD said:


> Front crankshaft seal leak would drip oil on the part of the under engine shield that was not butchered off that could lead to an under hood fire.
> 
> Not saying this could happen, just basing it on logic they used to butcher the shield in the first place.


As a firefighter, I've actually seen this happen before with the engine fires (Per the fire marshal) The under-shield on the Cruzes was actually a recall if I do remember for this same problem. Since they replaced my crankshaft seal, I haven't heard the squeaking since. The dealership (And since I'm in a small town and not too many Cruzes here) they've actually replaced 3 of them so far in the past 4 months. I'm surprised the crankshaft seal hasn't been a recall yet.


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## NickD (Dec 10, 2011)

Assume engine oil leaking out on the drive belt squeal problem, so far, no response on this issue.

Another question is why the front crankshaft seal failure? Improper engine oil changes, ethanol leaking past the rings into the engine oil that eats seals like crazy, or made in China counterfeit seals.

If the latter, GM could be saving a lot of money on warranty work if paying even as low as one cent more per seal.

Has to be a reason for these seal failures and if the leak is bad enough, could spray on that hot engine exhaust to cause a fire. So the question is why the seal failure, and replacing one piece of crap with another is not a solution. 

If it is a problem, another newly created problem, put over 200K miles on several vehicles without seal failure, major enemy is road salt. Another perfectly running vehicle hit the wrecking yard last week due to excessive use of road salt. Costing us a huge fortune. Can't safely drive a unibody vehicle that bends in the middle when you get in.


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## iedgar10 (Sep 25, 2014)

I had a similar issue a while back. If your noise sounds like the one in my video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NvaIquhYoA 
it's your tension pulley. I was worried there was something else wrong that caused my tension pulley to fail but it's been a few thousand miles and I haven't had other related issues *knock on wood* 

If you still aren't convinced, slowly and safely stick your hand down to the tension pulley when you here the squeak/chirp and you should feel the sound vibrating on the tension pulley. I paid around $150 to get it replaced and it's not covered under PT warranty.


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## NickD (Dec 10, 2011)

32 bucks at rockauto.com for genuine AC Delco.










If its really defective, some just need a bit of grease so they move in and out freely. Just the pulley is 11 bucks.

Crazy thing needs female torx sockets that I had to buy a long time ago, I hate torx bolts, another stupid invention. Should be less than a ten minute job that translates to around 700 bucks per hour for labor.


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## FrozenInSoDak (Sep 3, 2015)

I had it happen again the other day. I made sure to record my goings ons to get what I'm encountering. The quality is pretty crappy, but you can hear it. My apologies, I had my windows down and I was turning onto a highway on a very hot day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqRH6AVj7v4


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## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

I think it's a slipping belt. It looked like your power steering was the trigger. Yes, I know, the Cruze has electric power steering - but I'm thinking that it adds to the alternator load much like the old hydraulic power steering units.


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## NickD (Dec 10, 2011)

120 ampere output alternator can put a 4.7 HP load on the belt, because an alternator consumes just as much power as it can deliver.

At 1,000 RPM putting a 25 pound load on that belt at full power, but this cuts down to about a 6 pound load at 4,000 RPM. Putting the vehicle in gear reduces the idle speed increasing this load, that explains why the belt would squeak at this point. All basic physics.


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## iedgar10 (Sep 25, 2014)

ChevyGuy said:


> I think it's a slipping belt. It looked like your power steering was the trigger. Yes, I know, the Cruze has electric power steering - but I'm thinking that it adds to the alternator load much like the old hydraulic power steering units.



Definitely sounds like a belt. My mom's Montero Sport squealed like that when accelerating with the AC on. Got the belt replaced and it was all good after that. Also, ChevyGuy and Nick are probably right about the alternator load as when my battery was dying the steering wheel would slightly dim my lights. You could also try a belt conditioner. They're pretty cheap. Just spray on belt and it should alleviate the squealing for a while until it dries up again. BUT belts are cheap too...so just get the belt replaced lol


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## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

iedgar10 said:


> BUT belts are cheap too...so just get the belt replaced lol


One good thing about the 1.8 - you don't have to pull an engine mount to change the belt.


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