Okay, so the '87 Westy is the oldest vehicle I've owned in quite some
time, so I'm a little (make that a lot) rusty at these things.  I
noticed that my fan belt (okay, it's not really a FAN belt, but you know
what I'm talking about) has started squealing over the past week or so.
I've also observed that a lot of cars' fan belts squeal more in the
winter time.  Is this pretty much normal?  Back in the old days, when I
had a Ford truck with 246,000 miles on it, was a student with negative
money, I'd just spray the sucker with belt dressing and be on my way.
Now that I'm an adult (sort of) with negative money, I'm curious if this
is still the best solution.  My real question is this though: Is a
squealing fan belt necessarily an indication of a worn-out belt?  I know
what to look for to figure out if a belt needs to be replaced, but it's
dark out just now and I'm basically lazy.  On a vanagon, will a broken
fan belt destroy the engine?

Okay, that's enough of the stupid questions for the moment.  Thanks for
your support,
Marc Perdue