Mine screeches on very cold mornings (roughly <= 10 degrees F).
Would some type of belt dressing cure this?
And just for curiosity's sake -- why does the alternator's greater load
cause the belt to screech?
--------------
Fred Younger
91 GL

Michael Sullivan wrote:
>
> Your fan belt is screeching due to the alternator having a greater load.
>
> Cheers,
> MJS
>
> At 08:54 AM 2/19/99 -0800, Steve Macaulay wrote:
> >It was raining here yesterday and I inadvertantly left my lights on my 89
> >Westy when I returned to work after lunch. When I walked out to the parking
> >lot 4.5 hours later I saw that the lights were on. Luckily for me the main
> >headlights are cut off if you remove the key, so I was hoping that I would
> >still be able to start it since the parking lights were only on a few hours.
> >It did start right up, but I immediately heard a loud screeching noise
> >coming from the engine compartment. I cut the engine off and restarted it
> >and the loud noise returned. I left it running and walked to the back for a
> >better listen. The noise was very loud and I decided to cut off the engine.
> >I started it back again, got the same noise, and decided to give it a little
> >gas. The noise got quietier so I did the same thing again. A little
> >quietier again. I cut it off one more time, gave it some gas, and the noise
> >disappeared and hasn't returned.
> >
> >I assuming leaving the lights caused this to occur since I have never heard
> >this noise before. Anybody have any thoughts on what really happened? Is
> >this an indication of a particular part(s) going bad? I don't want to find
> >myself being unable to jump start the van if I inadvertantly leave my lights
> >on again. The van only has 57k miles on it so there isn't an excessive
> >amount of wear on the parts.
> >
> >Thanks for your help,
> >
> >Steve
> >
> >89 Westy
> >Richmond, VA
> >
>
> Michael J. Sullivan
> Director of Catalog Design
> Open Market, Inc.