[Guest]

Everytime I go through a significant amount of water on the road my car squeals like that's its job. <_< I think it's a pulley, not a belt, too. Yesterday when mine started doing it, I noticed about 4 or 5 other Gen 4's that were doing it. This must be a common problem... I took it to the dealership once when it was doing it and they said nothing was wrong... Anybody else experience this or know why? Oh, and belt dressing definitely does make it worse and take longer to go away. It usually takes a day or two for the sqeal to go away.

 

[Mexjames]

I had the squeal plus the red battery light in the dash went off for a few seconds, then the squeal was over and the light shut off.

I took it to the dealer and they didn't find anything wrong. I asked the to check the tension of the serpentine belt and it was ok too.

It looks like when water level is more or less signifcant on the street, the serpentine belt slips causing the squeal. Once the water is out of there things go back to normal.

Mine is a Gen 3 Sable with Duratec engine.

 

[acreature]

Just before my tensioner got the REAL bad Squeakees/Squealing it would do it for a few minutes after hitting water. Then, of course the sqeaks got bad and consistent. Changed it, and no more Sqeakies. Even through the water. h34r:

About the battery light...that does sound like the belt slipping (If it sqeaked at the same time)

 

[NateNBeckie]

It sounds like the tensioner is bad. 96 and later old body style GM trucks had this issue too. Change the tensioner, it goes away.

The issue "Mexjames" was talking about was a very common problem on early Contours (I owned one that did it). The problem was Ford didn't put enough splash shield on the right side wheel well so the crank pulley and alternator would get soaked. After driving in heavy rain, the battery light would come on, it would squeal, and I would lose power steering for about 10 or 15 seconds. They added a fix for it later that adds more shielding to keep this from happening. You could have lost some splash sheild or the belt is bad and that is why your gen 3 is doing it.

 

[TrueBlue]

Also, as a precaution, make sure you have enough coolant. Water pumps squeal intermittently when they are starting to go bad.

 

[Guest]

Yeah, I checked the coolant - that was OK. I'm going to switch to a Goodyear Gatorback belt tonight and I have to replace the PS pulley (as mentioned in my other thread) and hopefully that will take care of it. It finally did quit sqealing yesterday, so I hope it'll be OK now. <_<

 

[johnyfriday]

This is my first post so I apologize for any duplicate questions. I am a long time Contour owner and first time Taurus owner.

My car is squealing as well. The new issue is that it only squeals between 1100 and 1500 RPMs . Anything above or below this and there is no squeal. It does increase in sound just before reaching 1500 and going quiet again. I replaced the belt and had 2 weeks of silence but now it is back in full swing :huh:. Has anyone had better luck with a different belt or is this a different problem?