1996 Talon Squeaky Belts, and other stuff

[ZacFields]

Hey Guys,

First off, Ashley's 1996 Talon (base model, non turbo) is still running great. However, there are a few things I'd like to ask you guys about that are concerning me.

1. Squeaky belt. I would like to think it's just the serpentine belt, but yesterday (it was raining, btw) Ashley and I were sitting at a stop light and we started hearing what sounded like a squeaky belt. Just a constant squeaking. Then when the light turned green and I started on the gas, the squeak quickly went away. Any ideas on what caused this? Do I need a new serpentine belt? Or is this possibly a different kind of issue? I heard the same thing happening this morning when Ashley started the car, so I assume this might not be something that's going to go away on its own.

2. Leaking oil. Everywhere she parks for more than 30 minutes, there will be a greasy stain under the car. This has been going on ever since we bought the car almost 2 years ago. Does anyone know any common places the leak may be coming from? The weird thing is that in a 3,000-4,000 mile span, she really only loses maybe 2 out of 4.5 quarts. It seems like she's leaking more, but in reality it's not a horrible leak. My cavalier actually burns more oil than that between oil changes.

Some things I should say about the car: It never over-heats, ever. The engine was steaming when we drove to adventureland this summer but I think that was just due the oil leaking onto something hot. The car never appears to lose coolant, or at least not in any significant way, as I have only needed to refill the coolant once in the 2 years we've had it. The heat in the car works okay. It doesn't get incredibly hot, and it takes longer than most cars to get warm. (It takes her about 10-15 minutes to get to work and on extremely cold days, the heat doesn't get much better than lukewarm)

From what I was told by the dealer who sold me the car, the car came into their dealer with a blown headgasket. So they replaced the headgasket approximately 2 or 3 years ago from now.

Does anyone have any ideas? I'm just trying to guage how much longer this car is going to last before we're going to need to get a new one. Everything has been the same with the car for the entire 2 years except the belts squeaking that just recently started. I thought serpentine belts usually just got cracked and brittle when they needed to be replaced, that's why i'm asking.

Zac

[TbTalon94]

Well the belts could be two things. With the weather getting a little colder the belts are going to get a little brittle and either they are cracking/wearing out or one of your tensioner pullies is loose. Just look around on the side and find the tensioner points. Usually it's the Alternator and the Power steering. If the belt is bad, then it should be obvious :bigthumb:

The oil leak could be numerous things. Could be the oil filter, oil pan, oil drain plug, misc. hoses/gaskets. The best thing you can do is get the Oil die from Autozone. Wipe off everything under the car then run it and watch with a black-light. It will be BRIGHT green where it's leaking from. Pretty easy to spot. Then you'll be able to diagnose where it's coming from and I can tell you how easy/hard it is to replace.

-Trevor

[96-eclipse-gst]

Well as far as the belts, shouldn't have a serpentine belt, just multiple accesory belts. Like trev said, make sure they are tight, but if they are cracked quite bad, just replace them. Even you can do that :roll: It sounds like your worst problem is the oil leak. Do what Trevor said, if its something we can get fixed easily, you'll have (for the most part) no worries.

[Drifte]

Oil leaks down, not up, so its usually pretty easy to spot where the leak is starting. Check your power steering fluid, make sure its now low. Check the belts for cracks or glazing. The a/c belt is a bitch, and most of us typically remove them for the winter anyway (saves a lil gas, less wear on compressor). Most likely places your car is leaking oil, would have to oil pan, valve cover gasket. Make sure its motor oil, not trans fluid also. If it is trans fluid, could just be the axle seals.
But i'd start with the belts, does it squeek more easily when turning? Turn the a/c on and off see if it causes it to squeek. If the car isnt warming up i'd just replace the thermostat, its very easy on that car. Hopefully dont need to replace your heater core. Take it to sears for a "suspension check" and make andrew check everything up on the hoist

later

[Ashley]

today the squeeking was the worst, EVER.

when i slowed down.. it squeeked. when i hit the gas to speed up (after a stop light, w/e) it squeeked WORSE until i hit about 30mph or so, then it would go away.

if i slowed down to turn, it squeeked really bad when turning.

it also squeeked when i turned on the A/C. when i shut the A/C off... it still squeeked. lol.

and its a really bad squeek. like.. incredibly loud.

hopefully its nothing horrible. my car is a piece of crap.. but i love it. haha.

[TbTalon94]

Just have Zac check the belts. I'm sure one of them is bad and needs replaced or one of the tensioner points needs tightened. Squeeky belts are very annoying!!

[Ashley]

the squeek is gone.

one of my belts was pretty much mangled. haha.

[ZacFields]

yeah with that belt changed out the car is a lot smoother at idle and a ton quieter.

Now we just need to work out the oil leak issue. Hopefully it's leaking from a place that is not so difficult to fix, but how often is that the case? hah. That should be the last major problem with the car, really. Westside tire told us that the front strut is leaking fluid but that it wasn't a vital problem at this point. Said I could probably get that done after christmas maybe around tax season.

Zac

[Drifte]

FU$! that! Dude, replacing an old strut is one thing, a=one visibly leaking...get on that. I had one that leaked, thought I had a few weeks anyway...SOB lost its ability to manage the strut, causing it to put added stress on the spring perch braking the welds and slamming the car a full 8" drop. Ask trev or andrew about it...fun time. Needless to say tuning was over and no track time for colton

struts like $30 if ya can do it yourself tho, maybe $100 otherwise? I cant remember. Im stickin with take it to andrew.

peace bro

[ZacFields]

I was told it would be about $500 to replace both of them at Westside tire(I assume it would only make sense to replace both of them). Anyone know where I can have it done cheaper?

I don't like things being wrong with the car in the first place. I know this has been a problem for at least over a year, because they told us the same thing last time I brought it there about a year ago. Funny thing is, he told me today that it looked like it just started leaking, so I'm thinking it's probably not a very bad leak. But if I can get it done at a reasonable price I will do it.

I doubt this is something i can do. I'm good at figuring these things out, but I don't hardly have any tools here in my new house and not a big enough garage to accomplish much anyways.

Zac