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[email]pcalvert@rocketmail.com[/email] wrote:
[color=blue]
> The belt isn't glazed, but I did notice that it seems to have a fair
> amount of powdered rust on it. The car sat for over a month, and
> during that time we had a tremendous amount of rain. The humidity is
> very high at this time of the year, too. I am wondering if the
> powdered rust could be acting like a dry lubricant and causing the belt
> to slip a little every now and then.
> Actually, this could have a lot to do with it. I read that the 1998 to
> 2001 Corollas all have a problem with the belt alignment. Supposedly,
> the easiest fix is to remove the pulley from the alternator and put a
> shim behind it. Search Google Groups ( [url]http://groups.google.com/[/url] )
> using these keywords: corolla squeal shim letter. One of the posts
> listed will be called "My Letter To Toyota..."-- that's the one you
> want.
>
> Phil[/color]

What you are most likely experiencing is serpentine belt squeal caused
by a worn leaking "shock absorber" on the tensioner assembly. One
quick visual check would be to look at the top of the vertical "shock"
for signs of oil leakage. Any oil is too much. You could also put a
19mm wrench on the adjuster lug and compress/release the tension to see
if there was any hydraulic resistance. No resistance indicates a dry
shock. This is very common on the 1ZZ-FE engine.

If you should need to change the tensioner, get a new belt at the same
time (generic belt size code = 6PK1890 in metric length; 4060744 or
744K6 in common inch length terms). The tensioner is pricy.
Originally, there were two tensioner manufacturers supplying Toyota for
this part. After the problems became evident, Toyota changed all of
their stock to the one manufacturer that was making them better. (This
is my educated guess on the supply situation)

Further, a bad tensioner usually makes a knocking type noise mostly at
idle with trans in gear. This is a dead giveaway.

If your tensioner is OK then replace the belt only as long as you are
sure that the squealing is coming from that area. Oddball causes of
belt squeal other than a bad belt or tensioner include overcharging
alternator, bad accessory bearing, misaligned pulley(s), or wrong belt.
Every once in a while I come across an aftermarket belt that is the
correct length but there is something different about the cross section
of the ribs that causes it to be noisy. Keep this in mind before you
chase your tail too much.

Clean the rust powder off of the pulleys with a still wire brush before
any parts replacement.

BTW, the Chevy Prizm adds a neat twist to tensioner replacement. They
use an accumulator A/C system (I guess the Nippondenso drier system
cost too much for the Chevy version). Anyhoo, the accumulator and
suction piping really gets in the way during removal.

Toyota MDT in MO