Protege5 Squealing after starting up

D

Dragonpark

Member
:
2003 Mazda Protege5
I have a feeling I know what the issue is, but I thought I'd seek some expert advise before going back to the mechanic.

A bit over a year ago, I had my timing belt change on my '03 Protege5. I believe it was at about 86,000 miles at the time. The mechanic had replaced the serpentine belt and the water pump at the same time, which (from what I understand) is rather normal. Well, the winter after getting the belt changed, my car started to squeal after startup if I turn on the air and/or try to use the rear defrosters without letting the car warm up. Once the car warms up, it seems fine, though.

My assumption is that there isn't enough tension on the serpentine belt, but the problem persisted after the mechanic adjusted the tensioners. The squealing is much worse this winter and I would really like to get this fixed before I get stranded somewhere with a busted belt or something along those lines.
 
you just need to tighten the belts a bit. like you said, hurry up before you get starnded somewhere (ps - when it does go, you will still be able to drive...just wont have one/all/some of: power steering, power brakes, cooling, and alternator.
 
nilsonov said:
you just need to tighten the belts a bit. like you said, hurry up before you get starnded somewhere (ps - when it does go, you will still be able to drive...just wont have one/all/some of: power steering, power brakes, cooling, and alternator.
Click to expand...

+1
 
It's very simple to do on your Protege5. Our cars have a timing belt (which I'm sure is absolutely fine) and two belts for the accessories. One belt drives the power steering and A/C and the other belt drives the alternator and water pump (if I remember correctly. I'm more familiar with KL's now). But anyway, they are very simple to adjust the tension with. All you should need is a 12mm and 14mm socket and wrench. I'll attach the Mazda workshop link for you (it's always on top of the forums and should be saved to your computer for future references). It will tell you step by step how to tighten those two belts and they won't squeel anymore. Best of luck, mate.

http://www.floptical.net/mazda/
 
Mine squeals pretty often (every winter). It's always my alternator belt. +1 on it being easy to tighten. Just make sure you loosen up the set bolt on the side of the bracket, before tightening the tensioner bolt, or else you'll bend/snap the tensioner bolt. If you can't find the info in the manual easily, theres also a how-to on the forums for replacing the alternator which includes pics/instructions showing you were stuff is located.
 
I had to adjust (tighten) the Alternator Belt twice and the PS Belt three times. No more squeal for me.
 
"(ps - when it does go, you will still be able to drive...just wont have one/all/some of: power steering, power brakes, cooling, and alternator."

Yes, you can drive without cooling until the car overheats and ruins the engine? It's best to stop and get the car towed if cooling is lost.

Clifton
 
Unless your in a city it "shouldn't" overheat the air coming through should help enough to keep it cool but better safe than sorry.
 
^^^ If you're belts are still squeeling after tightening a few times and you need belt dressing (a band-aid) why not just replace the belts? They are like $10 a piece.

And if you do break a belt, I would pull over and let it cool and call a tow truck. No sense in risking running it hot and warping a block. Though a friend of mine broke a belt and limped his P5 home ran it till it was hot, shut off the motor and coast, let it cool, repeat and his block seems okay. Though personally, I wouldn't advise it.
 
I wouldn't do that its not good if you let it get past where its supposed to be. It would be a distance factor for me if I was 2 miles or less from home id just drive it no point in wasting 100 bucks to call a tow truck. For that id just change it on the side of the road but then again I'm a ghettochanic. But I have a new belt but its getting the head pulled off and rebuilt in the spring along with some other stuff and it will be way easier to wait and do everything at the same time
 
I don't understand why you say it should be fine in a city? In a city I would assume you would be traveling low speeds with a lot of stops thus no air-flow to the radiator or motor. Unless you meant highway driving? Regardless, I wouldn't drive the car with a broken belt.

I personally wouldn't take advice from a self proclaimed "ghettochanic" so do what you will. If something is broken, fix it properly. But that's just me. :)
 
Lewis7789 said:
^^^ If you're belts are still squeeling after tightening a few times and you need belt dressing (a band-aid) why not just replace the belts? They are like $10 a piece.

And if you do break a belt, I would pull over and let it cool and call a tow truck. No sense in risking running it hot and warping a block. Though a friend of mine broke a belt and limped his P5 home ran it till it was hot, shut off the motor and coast, let it cool, repeat and his block seems okay. Though personally, I wouldn't advise it.
Click to expand...

You're damn right I did. Smart? Nope. Will I do it again? Nope. Did I really need to not be stuck stranded on the side of the road at 3am in the winter with around 4 beers in my system? Hell no!


But yeah... if the alternator belt goes, so does your water pump. For reference, it takes about 1.5 miles at highway speeds for the car to go from normal operating temperature to "Oh s***!" mode.
 
Um I said UNLESS your in the city and definition of ghettochanic- fix it anywhere you can such as walmart parking lot :) .I do do things the right way and if I can't I make it work untill I can its called not having a garage for instance where my rear endlink broke off the strut all I did was pull the endlink off untill I can get a strut. Don't mix up my words and then insult me its not cool
 
Oh okay, now I understand. It's hard to read your posts without punctuation. I wasn't trying to insult you. You called yourself a "ghettochanic". I'm all about fixing it anywhere I can too, don't get me wrong. Hell, I have a roll of duct tape in my P5 for just such occasions.

Phen, I said "my friend", I didn't use your name. heh-heh.
 
Hell, I'll admit to the dumb s*** I've done. You know that.
 
Haha! But I just wanted to reiterate I didn't use your name. ;)

Anyway, back on topic, tighten your squeeky belt(s) or replace them, and it's not very hard to do. No worries.
 
Mine are tight and using the Gates micro V but still get an occasional short squeal on startup in winter when damp outside. I chalk it up to having all aluminum accessory pulleys and crank pulley. Only one not aluminum is the AC pulley. I feel the aluminum pulleys are much more prone to squealing than the steel ones and the belt being a little less pliant in cold temps most likely adds to the problem. It was never this touchy about belt tension before swapping in aluminum lightened wp, ps, alt & crank pulleys. It was also much worse using Gatorback belts. I did run with just the udp aluminum crank pulley for awhile before changing the rest and it wasn't an issue like it is now. I don't know how many times I tried tensioning them up a bit more to stop it then just stopped before the belts were getting too tight. I have been working on my rides since the 70s so I know proper and improper belt tension...and what happens to bearings in things when belts are too tight, from other people's examples. Not OP's problem from sounds of it, just passin along info on this subject..............As has been stated, giv'em a little bit more tension and it should shut them up. Also they do require retensioning as they will stretch as they get miles on them..........
 
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Same thing here. Car squealed horrifically after timing belt job and belt replacement. Took it back to the guy and he tightened them up, no charge.

Would have done it myself, but I hate working on cars in 35 degree weather.
 
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