Serpentine Belt 2005 Ford Freestyle

We just replaced the serpentine belt on my 2005 Ford Freestyle and now the air conditioning won’t work and the belt is squeaky.
My car has an automatic transmission.

RESPONSE

You could try putting the old serpentine belt back on and see if it changes. The new belt may be the wrong size and slipping.

1. Power steering pump pulley
2. Serpentine Belt
3. A/C clutch pulley
4. Crankshaft pulley
5. Serpentine belt tensioner pulley
6. Alternator pulley

This vehicle is equipped with:

• a V-ribbed serpentine accessory drive belt.
• an automatic drive belt tensioner.

New drive belts should be of the same type as originally installed.

Drive belt chirp is a regularly occurring chirping noise that occurs due to:

• pulley misalignment.
• excessive pulley runout.
• worn out belt.
• incorrect tension.

It can be a result of a damaged pulley or an incorrectly installed pulley that was not correctly aligned.

To correct drive belt chirp:

• determine the area from where the noise comes.
• check each of the pulleys in that area with a straightedge to the crankshaft pulley for front accessory drive.
• look for the accessory pulley to be out of position in the fore/aft direction or at an angle to the straightedge.
• inspect the drive belt.
• inspect the belt tensioner.

Drive belt squeal is an intermittent noise that occurs when the drive belt slips on a pulley during certain conditions such as:

• engine start-up.
• rapid engine acceleration.
• A/C clutch engagement.