Remember I had a really annoying noise ? [url="http://lexusownersclub.co.uk/forum/index.php?act=ST&f=50&t=5648&"](Discussed here)[/url]

Well....took it to Lexus today. By major luck the intermitent fault actually occured while I Was there !! (I was quite chuffed about this).

They took it into the workshop and suggested that they'd had lots of trouble with belts sqeuaking. Not because they're slipping or anything like that, but just being noise - so they oiled them up and sent me on my way. It's not made the noise since - though it was an intermitent fault. Obviously I thought it was the clutch release bearing, and they'd rather oil the belts than replace the clutch so we're giving this a go and seeing how we get on.

Keep your fingers crossed for me !!!

(oh....and why when you clean your car with it looking all lovely and shiny does it decide to CHUCK it down with rain???? How mean is that!!! STUPID weather!)

THEY DID WHAT..........

putting oil on the belts can drastically shorten the life of the belts, by making them swell and crack

[quote name='Supracharged-IS340' date='May 2 2003, 07:40 PM']THEY DID WHAT..........

putting oil on the belts can drastically shorten the life of the belts, by making them swell and crack[/quote]
True,
The belt should have been replaced, not "oiled"

I too had a squeak on my GS300 which turned out to be the main drive belt that runs the power steering, alternator etc. Lexus Swindon [b]waxed[/b] mine which sorted out the problem. I dare say Tony's was also waxed rather than being oiled. From what I can gather, as the belt gets older, it starts to get shiney and glazed, the wax just quietens it down again. You can apparently achieve the same results by holding a bar of soap against the belt while it is running. Sounds like a recipe for reducing the number of fingers if ever I heard one. My dad had a problem with a chirping belt on his old Merc that started about 15,000 miles. The belt was waxed and still showed no signs of breaking or chirping when he sold the car with nearly 50,000 miles on it. The head gasket blew, but that's a different story!

ERR Dont these things rely on friction to work correctly?

Good points made by all. At the time when he told me I thought "hey what !?" but figured they must know their stuff FAR better than I do. Now I'm trying desperately to remember and although I thought he said oiled, you never know - maybe they did wax etc

ANYWAY.......the silly sqeuak's STILL there - and driving me crazy.

So after all that, it STILL isn't fixed anyway. GRRR!!!!

Back to Lexus - another 1 1/2hour round trip !

Thanks for the comments guys
Tony

There's this aerosol stuff you can get called 'Belt Dressing'.
It's meant to deal with squeaky belts etc ...
Assuming it's not just too loose or knackered of course.

Before anyone asks, I have no idea where to buy this stuff ...
Just saw it in use by an air conditioning engineer in our data centre.

I guess a quick google will find some ...