1989 Festiva L with Fuel Injection -- Squeal from New Timing Belt & Tensioner

[Towser42]

I just bought an '89 Festiva (automatic tranny) and the PO changed the timing belt and tensioner (both were brand new) shortly before selling and I'm getting a squealing noise that is fairly constant from there as soon as the car starts up. Is that something that will go away as the belt/tensioner stretch and settle or do I need to go in there and loosen something?

Thanks,

Pete

[fastivaca]

Had a similar problem some time ago. Go here to see how I fixed it on my car. Hope that helps you out, there's a lot of ideas in the thread as to the cause of the problem.

[bobbyspider]

Prob the alt belt. 3 things to check: to loose, to tight, bad altogether. If the belt is not sticking up above the snout a good bit it could be bad. This happened to me. Proper tension is when you can still push the belt down about 1/2 to 1/4 inch but still have tension. Worse case scerino the bearings on the alt could be bad and the alt needs to be replaced. This is a good place to start before you start messing with the timing belt.

[Towser42]

The alternator belt is new as well, and it looks fine. The PO says the problem only started right after changing the timing belt and tensioner; he thinks it will go away if I wait, but I'm not so sure.

Thanks,