My sister's Civic is making a squealing noise. Apparently it's the fanbelt. The garage have ordered a replacement but she needs to make a 200 mile journey before the new fanbelt arrives. She wants to know:
- is it likely to last? Does the squeaking mean that it's likely to snap?
- how will she know if it has broken? Is it simply a matter of the temperature gauge rising?
- can she drive on with a a broken fanbelt? Does she simply need to stop if the car appears to be overheating. Can she set off again once it's cooled down?
- Should she even attempt the journey?
Thanks in advance.
Pete
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Is her Civic some special model or something? I would have thought that a fan belt was very easy to obtain via a factor or even Halfords et al. How long does the garage reckon it will take to arrive?
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Tell her to wear her stockings instead of her tights! - used to be a well-known "get me home" tip if your fan-belt ever went.
Bit silly imho to attemp the journey, squealing belt can indicate anything from just slack to siezed water-punp or altenator, also could start a fire if the friction of the crank pulley overheats the belt.
Billy
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try spraying a bit of brake fluid on the belt , or even wd40 ,, make sure the water pump is still running
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>>try spraying a bit of brake fluid on the belt ,<<
then carefully try explain to to her why all the paint in the engine bay is peeling off! ;-)))
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If the belt drives the water pump and it breaks, it's a pull-over-immediately-before-your-engine-explodes situation.
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It could be that the belt has degraded, stretched and jsut need tightening. It could be about to snap.
It could be that the water pump or alternator has seized. I've had an alternator seize a long time ago, it got very very very hot.
It could be that there's a bit of muck, oil or grease on the fan belt, a little washing up liquid will wash this off.
So there's five possibilities of what could be causing the squealing fanbelt and I suspect I've missed a few.
Any back street garage should be able to sort this out for not a lot of money.
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Wait for a fan belt? I'd give a couple of mobile mechanics a bell and I bet they'd have a belt in a jiffy.
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A whining belt may need no more than tightening.
A temporary fix is to put a few drops of water on it - the fibre in the weave of the belt shrinks almost instantly thereby shortening the belt and stopping the noise.
As other posters have said, you would first need to check there was nothing more serious wrong such as a seized alternator/waterpump.
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Thanks for all the suggestions. Sounds like pressing on regardless could pose a bigger risk than I had realised. We're on the Isle of Mull so no Halfords round the corner. However, we've checked again with the garage and they've said there's just a little bit of wear, couldn't replicate the squeal, so she can keep going until a replacement fanbelt arrvies. Thanks again for the advice.
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There is an hourly ferry from Craignure to Oban. Oban is a largish town and I bet there will be a Halfords or motor factor there. There is a proper garage at Craignure- just look for the pile of semi wrecked rally cars- I'll bet they will help you if you ask nicely.
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There is a proper garage at Craignure
Bay View Garage has been up for sale for 7 years if you're interested....
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