Squeaking/chirping when starting and driving, goes away after a while, 97 GMC Suburban

Hey Everyone, I have a squeaking (or chirping) in my truck. It usually appears when I first start the truck and while driving. It seems to be connected to accelerating, when I go off the gas or stop, it slows down or goes away. It sounds like the squeaking of a belt, just more subtle. Sometimes the noise goes away when driving longer distances, also it sometimes goes away when I turn the truck off and then on again. However, on some occasions it has reappeared, even on longer drives. Any ideas? Thank you!

Just a WAG, belt tensioner, or accessory driven by the belt.

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Get a friend to work with. One of you starts the truck and presses the accelerator while to other stands in front of an open hood and tries to locate the sound. If it’s from the front of the engine, the belt or pulleys are suspect. BTW, when was the last time the serpentine belt was replaced?

They need to be replaced every now and then ?

Hey Purebred, what is a WAG? Thanks!

A WAG is a Wild A$$ Guess…

WAG — Wild A$$ GUESS - I thought that was a common term that everyone knew .

Oh I see :sweat_smile: sorry, English is my second language. I thought it was some sort of car part.

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I agree with purebred, it is probably the tensioner or idler pulley. one is starting to go bad. I would change both and a new belt.

My guess, same as many above, most likely some problem in the accessory drive belt path. Sometimes it is possible to just remove the belt, start the engine briefly, and see if the noise is gone. Be aware that running the engine w/out the belt can disable the water pump, so make this a very brief experiment. It can also be diagnostic to simply spray the belt with water as the engine runs, fine mist of water from a spray bottle. If the sound disappears, pretty good chance you’ve narrowed it down to the belt or something in the belt path.

I had a similar problem on my Corolla one time. I used the remove the belt technique, determined it was the alternator belt. All it needed was a tension adjustment in that case.