belt squeal? when i turn on my a/c

which belt is this, and how hard is it to replace?

also, my car has 115k miles on it and the timing belt hasn't been replaced. is this something that i should do, or is there a way to check how much life is left in the belt? while i may not have this car much longer, i certainly don't need to be towing it in for a trade-in after having the pistons slam into a valve or two. i've seen people change them out at 80k miles, and i've seen people change them out at 140k miles, seems like quite a range to me...

 

see if there are any cracks on the belt itself (ac belt) look on the side that touches the pullys, the ribbed side. Rule of thumb if there are more then 3 cracks per inch replace it. Otherwise check the tension on the belt, if its to loose it will squeel. Very easy to replace, its the smaller belt on the drivers side of the motor.

 

uhh i would get that t belt replaced NOW, not unless you want to buy some new valves, maybe a motor depending on what RPM the belt snaps

 

which belt do i need to replace now; the timing belt?

 

yes, also what model are we talking about here?

 

2002 wrx, here's the last 8 of my VIN as you had requested in another thread.

2G527904

 

yeah dude, get that taken care of fast! the ac belt can probably just be tightend for now.

 

I had the timing belt done on my 02 WRX at about 111k. Turned out the AC pulley had gone bad so that got replaced after the belt was finished. I guess I am saying that sometimes there may be a connection. On the other hand, now that it is AC season and I am actually using it, I get a lot of sporadic noise from, assumably, the pulley. Especially if I turn it on when the engine is cold. And whenever the AC does kick in, there is a noticeable power loss. So, uh, well, I guess I am just shotgunning somewhat useless info in your direction. Uh, good luck, eh.

 

parasitic power loss is more than common with the AC on, its extra strain that isn't normally there.

 

yeah, i'm not worried about the power loss, it was just bothering me that something was squealing when i would start accelerating from a stop light or stop sign. the squealing only happens with the a/c on, and never any other time.