Squealing upon startup.

[tbag2002]

I have a 2002 Pathfinder SI. It is squealing extremely loud upon startup for 3 to 10 seconds, especially in the winter and the dead of summer. This will happen even if I have been driving for a long period, turn off the vehicle, and start it right back up. I just replaced the drive belts that are plenty tight and cleaned the pulleys really well before putting them on. I think it is probably something with the alternator since it is happening during high electrical usage times. Any suggestions?

[bluepathy97]

The bearings on any of the accessories could be going out, also the idler pulley can cause this noise if the bearings are going out as well. I had the same noise and I had to take the drive belts off and manually try to spin the pulleys one at a time. Mine was the idler.

[slownlow43]

I had a very similar squealing about 4 months ago in my 98 Q. Turned out it was the bearings in the distributor going bad. Like was previously posted, it could be anything. Hopefully you have a good ear.