I have a 2000 Dodge Ram Sport 5.9 L, Squeal on Start

Asked by Bronco41 Mar 07, 2012 at 05:53 PM about the 2000 Dodge RAM 1500

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

I have a 2000 Dodge Ram Sport 5.9 L, it is squealing on start up, i replaced the belt and it helped for a
few days. The belt looks like its really loose, could the tension pulley be going bad and if so would this
cause a squeal? There does not appear to be any leaks.

5 Answers

955

The tensioner is probably bad. I have had to replace a lot of them. It could also be a belt that is poor quality or the wrong length. Another cause may be the a high load on the alternator, typically caused by the battery voltage being way too low.

1 people found this helpful.

Thanks Tim I really appreciate the answer, the tension pulley can be moved by hand as of now, could the spring be old/bad? I will check the voltage on the battery as well and get back to you.

955

They usually have quite a bit of tension. There is some free play with the belt removed, but usually I have to use a long handle ratchet to pull them back enough to get the belt back on.

Okay, mine is pretty easy to move around and the spring looks pretty rusted. If that is the issue would it cause the belt to squeak?

955

That would cause the belt to be too loose and on my 04 Ram HEMI it really made it noisy

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