My pulley squeals obnoxiously, especially when the car is cold. A while back it used to just do it when the car was cold, and has not done that in a while. But now, it squeaks even when the car is warm and it seems to be getting louder. It only does it when the car idles and its very embarassing when stopping in somewhere like a parking lot. Any ideas as to what the problem is? The belt looks fine to me. Tensioner maybe?

 

Mine has done this at cold starts for the last 5k miles or so. The last time I looked at the bulletins mini was investigating the issue, but thought that it may be the crank pulley losing it's paint and developing surface rust, or tensioner, or increased alternator load after starts, or planetary positioning.

I think think it's the tensioner. I have had someone lightly rev the engine while I listened. The noise seemed to come from the tensioner an corresponded to tensioner movement.

I've changed the belt, but no difference. As it happens more frequently it will move up my to do list.

 

i had this problem too, I think. It WAS the tensioner. try spraying wd40 or something on the tensioiner when you hear the noise. if the noise stops or gets quieter, then you know its the tensioner.

The tension is about $75 at the dealer, itstall isnt too bad, just like the pulley.