The belt was squicking pretty loud when i first started the car and i knew thats were the noise was coming cause i would spray water on it and it would get quite for a few seconds. But now im curious because after i removed the belt it i no
ticed that it looked intact. I was hopping to find cracks all over it. Btw it took me about 10 mins to remove and install a new belt.

 

The proof would be in the pudding. If there is no noise after doing that one thing, then that one thing must have been the culprit. However, you can keep the old belt as an emergency spare. Better to be able to squeak down the road, than be hung silently on the tow hook behind a truck.

 

Perfectly good serpentine belts often start to squeak after even a small amount of coolant is is spilled on them.

I've had this happen twice following thermostat tower failures - one on an XJ8L and the other on an XK8. I first thought it was the water pump bearing starting to fail but spraying water on the belt just like you did eliminated the bearing as the source by stopping the squeak. However, this was only temporary. Even taking the belt off and thoroughly washing it made no difference. The only fix was to replace the belt.

Graham

 

S Belts on systems that don't stress them can last seemingly forever - since you rarely hear of them failing the x308 must be easy on the belt. I have had the same issue on MB's - they just begin to squeak - for no apparent reason.

One thing I will point out is that many aftermarket belts are slightly different lengths. Since the S belt system uses a tensioner -- the belt can be a little off in length and still operate (especially if it is a bit short) .... you will never notice this . but in some situations it may be damaging the tensioner.

I discovered this with MB's -- the Gates belts for many applications are a little short and the tensioner does not get to its designed sweet spot. Another part that I now only go with OE.

I had the same problem with regular belts on a Nissan Pathfinder.