Squeak/Chirp when accelerating/revving

I’ve been researching this issue for a while and haven’t seen many people with first gen tundras having this issue so I want to get some opinions.
I get a super annoying squealing noise when accelerating quickly or revving at a stop. It sounds like a serpentine belt issue to me so I’ve done the water spray test and also sprayed the belt with silicone lube and that didn’t make the noise stop. My next step was removing the idler pulley and tensioner pulley and repacking them with grease since they both had no play. Both pulleys felt a little scratchy and after greasing them they are now nice and smooth. This also didn’t fix the noise at all. I’m going to replace the serpentine belt with an oem one this week since I sprayed silicone all over my current one but I doubt that will fix the noise either. Has anyone else experienced a similar issue?

another note to add: The belt tensioner seems to be working great, it takes quite a bit of force for me to pull it back to get the belt off, and it snaps right back into place and puts good tension on the belt.

 

I would think silicon lube would make it slip more. I think belt conditioner spray would be better.

Anyways I'm betting is a bad bearing on a pulley. Could be an accessory pulley, could be the crank or the fan.

 

Want to know if it's related to the serp belt?

Remove the serp belt. Rev the engine. Is it gone? If yes, it's either the belt, or it's a pulley that belt is engaging. While the belt is off, spin the pulleys one by one, and wiggle violently to see if there's any play/grind/noise. All should spin smoothly and noise-free.

Note that we've had several people on here find certain aftermarket belts squeal. OEM Toyota belts and the green-colored Gates HD belt are proven not to squeal. Also note the lifespan of aftermarket belts, especially with things like the timing belt, are significantly less than Toyota's OEM brands.

We do have one or two belt squeal notes in the everything you need to know about your 1st gen megathread. There is at least one TSB for our trucks related to the tensioner, which has received a major part update since our trucks ended production.

 

thanks for the reply, I just ordered the green colored gates belt since the Toyota one is 89 dollars at my local dealership. Will also test to see if it squeaks without the belt while I have it off.
Hopeful that this will fix the noise but also doubtful since the water test, spray lube, and dielectric grease all had no noticeable effect.
Will be good to have a new belt either way I suppose.

 

Not sure where you got your information for these "tests". The only definitive fix for a squealing belt is belt dressing or a new belt. The only definitive test to determine if you have a bad bearing on a rotating part is to remove the belt and see if the squealing goes away. If it does you need to reinstall the belt and find the culprit. You do this by getting a mechanics stethoscope or a long screwdriver or pry bar and start listening to each component. Cup your hand around the handle and put it up to your ear. Touch the mount or area on the accessory that's NOT rotating and see if the sound increases in your ear. You should be able to tell the difference between ambient and "amplified" sound.

 

You know the trick to getting OEM parts from your dealer for 20-60% off, right? Only a fool would buy directly from the parts counter unless you're in a pinch, the counter will always charge MSRP. You can use the Toyota Parts Program to get instant discounts, and sometimes even pickup your order directly from the same counter charging you MSRP.

I've been wrenching on cars for more than 40 years. I've never heard any of those tricks for finding a squeaky belt.

I do know you should never use lubricants on a belt, so I'm baffled by the dielectric grease. Silicone is one of those "it can go either way" things, that's primarily what belt dressing is made of, but the intent is for the silicone and additives to target the belt's rubber more than anything.

We've had a couple of dudes on here, very recently, who had new aftermarket belts squealing right out the gate. Slapped in a green HD belt, no squeal. Dunno.

You really can't trust aftermarket parts on these trucks. I know it hurts to buy the Toyota boxed part, but smart folks know Toyota didn't make their own parts in many cases. A lot of parts were made by Spicer, Advics, Denso, Aisin, Sumitomo, Fujitsu, Hitachi, and others. You pay less if you buy straight from those manufacturers, rather than getting the same part in a Toyota box or baggie.

 

I’ve seen this but for some reason the dealerships in my area don’t show up as options to order from. It only shows a few dealerships that are over 300 miles away.

This came up in my research, dielectric grease is very sticky with a lot of grip so it’s supposed to do a good job of silencing belts. It’s also supposed to soften the belt giving it more grip. I was trying to rule out the belt since it was replaced less than 10k miles ago with a normal black gates belt by the previous owner. Another theory I have is that coolant was spilt on the belt because the radiator was replaced after the belt was replaced.

 

Sounds like some new AI bullshit. But, I think you have enough tried and true information now to figure out the squealing problem. Best of luck. Let us know what you come up with. Could help someone else in a similar situation.

 

When other members run into that, I usually link them up with this dealership, which, if you buy from their Birmingham AL location, they'll ship orders over $75 for free, and if you're outside of Alabama, they don't charge tax. Basically what you see when you get to Checkout (the in-cart price isn't always your final price, be aware of that) is what you pay. We've had members on here get brand new OEM lower control arms at $250/ea, which is almost cheaper than you can buy the OEM lower control arm bushings alone directly at the parts counter!

I've never heard that about dielectric grease, but I was taught from a very young age, by Dad who was an airplane mechanic in the US Navy, if your belt is squealing, tighten the tensioner, and if the tensioner is tight or non-adjustable, change the belt. Because any form of "belt dressing" you add is a stop-gap measure, and may cause collateral issues later.

I agree with @ATBAV8, that does sound like some shit AI would spit out. I'm shocked at how many times we have to tell this to people - and I'm not saying this to you, nor saying you're doing this, but - never trust AI for information, especially on these trucks. Always remember, AI is only as good as its input set. I saw a research breakdown of where several popular AI are being trained recently. Several of them were getting more than 60% of its knowledge base off Reddit and Facebook posts, and there's a GAGGLE of bad info there. Not only that, but AI can't understand the difference between advice/solutions for a V6 versus a V8. You must consider where AI is pulling its data to know whether you can trust it. It's highly effective with medical because it's acquired its knowledge from actual peer-vetted journals and studies, real-world imaging that has helped it visualize x-rays to understand what to look for. It can't do that, not even with a post on here, where we find the issue 30-40% of the time (versus Reddit or FB, which may get it right 5% of the time).

Anyway ... belts are cheap. I'd replace it with one that's known-good, a brand/model# that others here have used with success. Whatever you find, let us know. To that "AI training" rant above, posting follow-ups any time something is correct or wrong, it helps the humans here train themselves on best course of action!

 

The only proven belt conditioner. Works in radiators too.

 

Dealer not showing up on Toyota parts online means they don’t participate like my only cheap ass stealership in town. I fact he charges above MSRP for many parts. For example I needed an extra water crossover gasket and the bastard charged me $20 which was significantly above MSRP.

 

I wonder if that's something you could reach out to Toyota of America about, just out of spite?

 

Update:
I removed the serpentine belt and drove around the block and the squeal was still there under acceleration. This is leading me towards an exhaust leak of some kind. I have an aftermarket flow master exhaust system so maybe something is going on there. Has anyone ever heard a similar noise coming from the exhaust manifolds?

 

The only unwelcome noise from the manifolds on my truck is tick tick tick when cold. Cracked manifold/exhaust leak. Speaking of exhaust... the original muffler is still quiet after 300k miles. Amazing.

 

You've got to get a video with good sound quality to let us hear what's going on. Highly unlikely that its coming from the exhaust.

 

How'd you drive it with no serpentine belt?


Manifold leak would be a ticking noise.

 

Why wouldn't you be able to drive it w/o the serp belt?

You just wouldn't have power steering or charging, but the battery should have enough charge to get you several miles down the road.

 

No power to alternator

 

You can drive without an alternator for quite a ways. You just draw from the battery, and the battery doesn't recharge.

 

Yeah I remember now. I had to jump Elvira like 6x to get her home from about 1.5hr away, because the alternator was shit.

 

https://youtu.be/N4ZA_LIxnJ0?si=vUVeVxHE7kJ0pURw

here is the noise I’m getting. It sounds like it’s coming from the Passenger side exhaust manifold area. I also noticed that it looks like that side has a logo on the manifold heat shield. Isn’t that Dorman’s logo? I’m going to connect a shop vac to the exhaust and blow air in to see if I can find any leaks. Could this also be a vacuum leak somewhere in the air intake system?

And yes, it’s fine to drive without serpentine belt for a short time on these trucks since the water pump is powered by the timing belt. You just lose power steering, AC, and the alternator.

 

That's one of the best audio for trouble shooting I've heard. I can hear why you think it might be an exhaust leak. My guess is you may be correct though it does not sound like the common tick tick tick of a cracked manifold.

Curious. Does the noise remain the same, engine hot or cold? Is it only when RPM initially increases or does the sound continue at a steady RPM say 2-3k?

 

The noise is always the same regardless of engine temperature. The squeak sound only happens after the initial punch of the gas pedal at around 2.5k rpms. If I hold the gas pedal at any rpm or slowly accelerate the sound does not happen. Only happens when I give it a short quick burst of throttle.

Another interesting thing to note: I do have a ticking sound that comes from the drivers side manifold only when the engine is cold but that quickly goes away after about 30-60 seconds. The passenger side exhibits no ticking noise but the squealing noise is definitely coming from that general area. The air intake system is on the passenger side as well which leads me to see that as another potential cause of the issue.

I’m guessing the passenger side manifold was actually replaced because of the Dorman logo on the heat shield.

 

Sure sounds like an exhaust leak to me. While it doesn't sound like the standard cracked manifold I suppose it could be, or perhaps a manifold gasket leak, exhaust pipe connection. If the upstream 02 censor connection was leaking you'd think that would create a check engine light.

 

https://youtu.be/PWEziRI5X1E?si=fURKRFLj6vjUhrZX

I connected a shop vac to my exhaust and sprayed soapy water on a bunch of areas. I could hear a lot of air escaping from the drivers side manifold but couldn’t see any bubbles which means it’s probably under the heat shield. The passenger side was much quieter but I can clearly see the bubbles from air escaping from what looks like the gasket. There are also leaks on 2 of the exhaust connections and I noticed that both 02 sensors have micro bubbles escaping from them. The passenger side 02 sensor has tons of little tiny micro bubbles coming from it while the drivers side has much less.