# Bogus answer to squeeking fan belt puzzler **URL:** \ **Category:** The Show\ **Created:** [October 21, 2021, 3:01pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/bogus-answer-to-squeeking-fan-belt-puzzler/180125 "2021-10-21T15:01:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![chuck.julian\_177525](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@chuck.julian\_177525](https://community.cartalk.com/u/chuck.julian_177525)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2021, 3:01pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/bogus-answer-to-squeeking-fan-belt-puzzler/180125/1 "2021-10-21T15:01:35Z")
The puzzler answer to What’s Making That Noise is completely wrong. Years ago when they used this puzzler, I contacted their expert at Harvard. He failed to realize that modern fan belts are two part systems. There is a woven belt on the outside that holds the outside circumference constant. On the inside is not natural rubber that contracts when heated. There is synthetic rubber that expands when heated. As the belt slips, it heats up, the synthetic rubber expands. The outside of the belt keeps it from getting larger, so the rubber reduces the inside circumference, making the belt tighter. I verified this with an engineer at the Gates Rubber Factory who said the idea that the belts was shrinking due to it being heated was completely bogus. ---
**Author:** ![Purebred](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/purebred/32/46796_2.png) [@Purebred](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Purebred)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2021, 3:25pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/bogus-answer-to-squeeking-fan-belt-puzzler/180125/2 "2021-10-21T15:25:35Z")
Leather belts “shrink” due to over eating.🤪 ---
**Author:** ![Mustangman](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/mustangman/32/44130_2.png) [@Mustangman](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Mustangman)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2021, 3:55pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/bogus-answer-to-squeeking-fan-belt-puzzler/180125/3 "2021-10-21T15:55:03Z")
And spring loaded serpentine belt tensioners make this discussion moot. ---
**Author:** ![chuck.julian\_177525](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@chuck.julian\_177525](https://community.cartalk.com/u/chuck.julian_177525)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2021, 4:47pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/bogus-answer-to-squeeking-fan-belt-puzzler/180125/4 "2021-10-21T16:47:35Z")
It just bothers me that after talking to Car Talk’s self proclaimed expert, a professor at Harvard, who said that he would tell them to stop using this puzzler after realizing that their answer was bogus, they went ahead and used it anyway and gave the wrong answer. I do not like the idea that they are spreading mis-information, when their own expert says that it is incorrect and he said that he would tell them to stop using it. The relatives of someone who was an expert about belts used during WW1 are not themselves experts by way of genetics. During WW1, they used natural rubber belts because synthetic rubber had not yet been invented, but no one has used them in the last 75 years. ---
**Author:** ![bing](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/bing/32/4619_2.png) [@bing](https://community.cartalk.com/u/bing)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2021, 4:57pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/bogus-answer-to-squeeking-fan-belt-puzzler/180125/5 "2021-10-21T16:57:37Z")
Who was it that said behind every major crisis you’ll find a Harvard man involved? Prolly doesn’t even have a drivers license. ---
**Author:** ![texases](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/texases/32/862_2.png) [@texases](https://community.cartalk.com/u/texases)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2021, 5:09pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/bogus-answer-to-squeeking-fan-belt-puzzler/180125/6 "2021-10-21T17:09:06Z")
Chuck, you overestimate the amount of technical research behind the puzzlers. These aren’t documented proofs, they’re fictional fun with a few facts added. ---
**Author:** ![Mustangman](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/mustangman/32/44130_2.png) [@Mustangman](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Mustangman)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2021, 5:24pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/bogus-answer-to-squeeking-fan-belt-puzzler/180125/7 "2021-10-21T17:24:40Z")
And no one has used V belts for over 25 years and serpentine belts generally without spring tensioners. Let it go. ---
**Author:** ![VDCdriver](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/vdcdriver/32/30_2.png) [@VDCdriver](https://community.cartalk.com/u/VDCdriver)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2021, 9:04pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/bogus-answer-to-squeeking-fan-belt-puzzler/180125/8 "2021-10-21T21:04:35Z")
> [@Mustangman](#): > > Let it go +1 If this issue is the biggest problem that the OP has this week, he should consider himself very fortunate. ---
**Author:** ![George\_San\_Jose1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e5b9ba/32.png) [@George\_San\_Jose1](https://community.cartalk.com/u/George_San_Jose1)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2021, 11:04pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/bogus-answer-to-squeeking-fan-belt-puzzler/180125/9 "2021-10-21T23:04:28Z")
It seems sort of like that question high tech companies sometimes ask job applicants. Say you have a thick steel plate with a 1.5 inch diameter hole in it. When you heat the plate will the hole become a larger diameter, or smaller? ---
**Author:** ![Mustangman](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/mustangman/32/44130_2.png) [@Mustangman](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Mustangman)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2021, 11:30pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/bogus-answer-to-squeeking-fan-belt-puzzler/180125/10 "2021-10-21T23:30:21Z")
Larger… thats how you drop in bearings with an interference fit ---
**Author:** ![B.L.E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/848f3c/32.png) [@B.L.E](https://community.cartalk.com/u/B.L.E)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2021, 2:59am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/bogus-answer-to-squeeking-fan-belt-puzzler/180125/11 "2021-10-22T02:59:47Z")
If you ever checked the amp output of an alternator immediately after starting the engine and watch it drop from a high amperage to a moderate amperage in a minute or so, you’ll understand the real reason the belt stops slipping after a minute or so. The alternator simply becomes easier to turn. The more amps the battery draws while recharging, the harder it is for the engine to turn the alternator. After a minute or so, the battery is topped off again. ---
**Author:** ![bing](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/bing/32/4619_2.png) [@bing](https://community.cartalk.com/u/bing)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2021, 1:36am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/bogus-answer-to-squeeking-fan-belt-puzzler/180125/12 "2021-10-23T01:36:08Z")
> [@Mustangman](#): > > Larger… thats how you drop in bearings with an interference fit Yeah but if the metal all around the hole is expanding, wouldn’t it expand into the hole and make it smaller? I wouldn’t have gotten the job. ---
**Author:** ![Mustangman](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/mustangman/32/44130_2.png) [@Mustangman](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Mustangman)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2021, 1:50am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/bogus-answer-to-squeeking-fan-belt-puzzler/180125/13 "2021-10-23T01:50:49Z")
No, you wouldn’t have gotten the job. The heat makes every dimension larger, including the hole. ---
**Author:** ![bing](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/bing/32/4619_2.png) [@bing](https://community.cartalk.com/u/bing)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2021, 2:06am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/bogus-answer-to-squeeking-fan-belt-puzzler/180125/14 "2021-10-23T02:06:41Z")
> [@Mustangman](#): > > No, you wouldn’t have gotten the job. Heh heh heh ---
**Author:** ![texases](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/texases/32/862_2.png) [@texases](https://community.cartalk.com/u/texases)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2021, 2:57am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/bogus-answer-to-squeeking-fan-belt-puzzler/180125/15 "2021-10-23T02:57:46Z")
> [@bing](#): > > Yeah but if the metal all around the hole is expanding, wouldn’t it expand into the hole and make it smaller? If that happened a disc of metal would get thicker in the middle when heated. It doesn’t. We had this discussion here about 10 years ago, I think. Yep, 10 years ago: > [@Torpedo tube analogy](https://community.cartalk.com/t/torpedo-tube-analogy/61905/1): > > On the show I heard today you were explaining to “The Chief of the Boat” that his master cylinder heating up was like a heated torpedo tube expanding, and therefore the torpedo would fit looser in the tube. Actually the opposite is true. The heated tube would expand in ALL directions; making the inside diameter of the tube smaller, not larger. The torpedo would fit tighter in the tube, not looser. ---
**Author:** ![bing](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/bing/32/4619_2.png) [@bing](https://community.cartalk.com/u/bing)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2021, 4:30am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/bogus-answer-to-squeeking-fan-belt-puzzler/180125/16 "2021-10-23T04:30:36Z")
> [@texases](#): > > We had this discussion here about 10 years ago, I think. > > Yep, 10 years ago: I must have been working that day or at my retirement party. I’ll take your word for it. Looking at some of the posts, there seemed to be some serious discussion. Everyone knows about the ring and the ball though, just threw me talking about a thick plate. Awfully tempted though to click on one of those bathing beauty ads instead though.