1997 Pontiac Sunfire SE 5 sp manual.

So, its like -20 degrees celsius where I am on a regular basis. When I start my car it makes a squeaking noise for a good 5-10 minutes. The noise seems like its coming from the alternator belt area. This was typical in my older car because it didn`t have an auto-tensioner. It would squeak until it got warm then it would be ok - all I would have to do is tighten it and the squeaking would be gone. Like I said though - with the auto-tensioner I found that weird.

So the other day I was driving my gf home (2 minute drive literally) and when I was leaving her place I made it around the corner and I saw, what I thought to be, smoke coming from under my hood. I shut the car off immediately popped the hood and smoke came from it. I was worried so I threw a bunch of snow on the engine area to avoid a possible fire. I do not recall there being any distinctive smell of anything burning when I popped the hood and it was smoking just heard a lot of sizzling. It was really dark out so it was hard to see. But I thought a puddle was accumulating under my car - so I touched it and smelled it. Didn`t have a funny smell, felt like water; but a little filmy.

I got the car home and I was looking around trying to figure out the problem and I couldnt reproduce a single thing. I slowly started testing the car taking it on short drives for the next 3 days and everything seemed fine; so I figured maybe because the day where it `smoked`was an above 0 degree day that perhaps a chunk of snow caked under the car had melted and fallen onto the exhaust and melted causing a lot of steam.

So today I was driving to work and the initial 20 minute city road drive was fine. The instant I got on the highway and went above 70kmh I noticed my temp gauge rise fast like into the yellow within 10 seconds max. I pulled over shut off the car and saw a wonderful pool of green below my car - WONDERFUL! antifreeze. I checked the reservoir and it was pretty high - so overflow maybe?

I let it cool and started to drive - I needed to get to work. I went slow 65 kmh the whole way, heat on max, and I have installed a cooling fan switch so I had that on too. The temperature once again quickly raised and stayed on the line between normal and yellow. Every time I would stop my car at a stop sign or red light the heat would litterally be cold even though it was on max. When I stopped my car to let it cool - the temp gauge would literally go just below the `warm\normal`zone in the span of 10 seconds. When I started it - it would rise back up to just bellow yellow in the same amount of time. Once the engine was off the hot air would stay warm at best for 3 seconds then litterally ice cold like the ambient air outside.


Any input would be well appreciated. Thanks guys!

P.S. I managed to get it to work and park it. Haven`t had a chance to check on it or anything to tell if its still leaking or what not . I`m at work typing this messaage.

Rapid fluctuation on the temp gauge and no heat sounds like a lot of air in the system. I would say you have a decent leak somewhere. Just going to have to look it over real good. I am assuming you have a 2.2L. if that is the case its really easy to check the water pump, from what I remember.

As far as the squealing noise you can replace the main belt fairly cheap. I would because it overheated anyway and its cheap insurance. Go to a shop and have them perform a pressure test on your cooling system. They hook up an air pump where your radiator cap goes and put about 10-15 psi on the system and it will find the leak. If its your water pump it will leak out of the weep hole but if its a hose with a pin hole in it it will find that too. So you could have just a hose going bad when the car heats up and produces pressure but not leaking when the car is cold. How many miles on your engine? I have a 94 sunbird 2.0L with 150+ miles on original waterpump.

Good luck

I know the main belt is fairly cheap. That wasn`t really my concern. But I did some reading on the net and found that squeaking is a common symptom of a failing water pump - so that is why I included it in here. Any easy way to tell where the squeaking is originating from?

The car has quite a few KMs on it. Its just under 200,000 km. So like 124,000 miles or so.

No easy way to tell without listening to it myself. To rule out the waterpump go have it pressure tested. If indeed it is leaking a small amount it could be the cause of the squealing and the smoke you saw before. Coolant leaks dont fix themselves.

Good luck

Had it tested at a garage - they said it is the lower radiator hose. They wanted like $192 to replace it (tax, labour and part). I said screw it I'll do it myself. But just another question concerning the water pump squealing - when a water pump squeals is it typical that it squeaks the whole time the engine is running? I'm still concerned about the squeaking - but mine stops once I reach operating temperature. What do you think?

The alternator belt seems to be in pretty good shape - it has no vertical cracks, only a few horizontal ones. But I don't know when it's replaced - guess it's possible its been stretched over time. I'll buy a new one and see what that does while I'm at it.

Thanks!

YAY We've created another do it yourselfer!! Congrats!

Its very probable that coolant got onto your belts. Its petroleum based and can cause the squeaking/squealing noise you describe. Once the belt or belts heat up they burn off the oil and no more noise.

But new belts are not very expensive and you can always put the used ones in the trunk as a spare in case you ever break one on the road. A used belt can get you home.

Good Luck M8

The rad hose is probably the source of the leak, but I bet that the tensioner pulley is the source of the squeak. It is on mine, it squeaks for about 5-10 minutes on a cold startup, depending on the temp. It is worst about 25-35 and humid.

Rad hose was changed and the problem is 100% solved. Still squeaking when cold though - I'm going to try changing the alternator belt and we will see if that does anything. The weephole on the water pump is 100% dry; so I think its either a belt or tensioner problem.

Thanks guys!