[Schurkey]

Originally Posted by i82much

spray it with belt dressing, might help diagnostically.

DO NOT contaminate the belt with "belt dressing".

Spray it with WATER for diagnostics. The water will kill the squeal of a slipping belt (temporarily) but not damage the belt or leave residue.

Air expands under vacuum. If you put 28 inches of vacuum on the system, and you don't suck out a bunch of fluid when the air bubble farther down expands...you don't have an air bubble in the system. There is no air.

And LOOK at how the belt fits the groove. Aside from incorrect-width belts, I've seen worn V-groove pulleys where the "V" has eroded to a "U". No belt will work on that pulley.

If this is a serpentine system, did the morons who designed it allow for sufficient belt-wrap on the PS pulley, water pump, alternator, etc? The "engineering" I see on aftermarket serpentine systems is terrible.

IF (big IF) it turns out that the fan/fan clutch has too much drag on the water pump pulley, and there's plenty of belt wrap, maybe the air fins of the radiator or A/C condenser are folded-over or filled with dragonflies or sparrows. Fan works too hard pulling air through the rad.

[mgarblik]

I am sorry to hear the fan clutch did not solve the problem. However, I would continue down the same path by continuing to eliminate the potential cause of the noise. My next "Test" would be to drive the car without the power steering pump turning. Rig up the belt drive in a way that eliminates the PS pump. A shorter belt, or even no belt would be fine. You didn't mention if the car has AC. Ideally, you want the water pump, alternator and AC if equipped turning. Drive the car and see if the noise goes away. If no squealing noise, at least you know for sure it's in the PS system. Then we can go from there. Testing is the only way to solve these kinds of problems. BTW, with a fully charged battery you can drive the car for testing 10 minutes or so without the water pump or alternator turning. Just keep an eye on the temp gauge.