2012 LS3 AC belt problem at 200 miles.

[Wolf]

Hello

I have a camaro MY2012 Europe.

After about 4000 miles, I have the same issue with the belt.
I detected this problem because I heard a very important shrill noise coming from the engine, a squeak.
I think I drove few kilometers with the belt in a wrong place, not enough to detroyed it totally.
I succeeded to put this belt on its right place, the noise disappeared.
The belt must be replaced. It is relaxed.


I'm not the only one to have this problem in France, at least one other had it.
His camaro was just delivered.
His belt was very damaged and was replaced in warranty.

Very strange this belt can go out from itself...
Apparently, It's always from the crankshaft pulley the belt is going out...

NB:
The three first pictures are my belt, with the last one (of the three) the belt put back on its right place.
The others pictures are the belt (very damaged) of the camaro of a friend with the same issue.

[TSSUNAMI]

TRC thanks for posting this vid man!

I had this noise for a while now, but it worsened significantly in the days prior to me putting my car into storage. We are B4lls deep in snow in NY right now and my car won't see the service department until springtime, so I've been going nuts knowing that something is wrong with my car and being unable to do anything about it!

I'll show this vid to my tech in the spring when I bring it in.

IDK what GM did with the belts on this car, but this is going to be the second belt that I've had replaced on my LS3.

Don't get me wrong, I love my car, but between the serpentine belt, the window moulding, and the damn heater core that lost me a month of driving time this summer, I'm getting sick of taking my car to the dealership =( Hopefully this will be the last time for a while.

[Bumblebee2012]

Yep, that's exactly what I saw. It was one rib forward.

[TRC-SS]

Originally Posted by TSSUNAMI

TRC thanks for posting this vid man!

I had this noise for a while now, but it worsened significantly in the days prior to me putting my car into storage. We are B4lls deep in snow in NY right now and my car won't see the service department until springtime, so I've been going nuts knowing that something is wrong with my car and being unable to do anything about it!

I'll show this vid to my tech in the spring when I bring it in.

IDK what GM did with the belts on this car, but this is going to be the second belt that I've had replaced on my LS3.

Don't get me wrong, I love my car, but between the serpentine belt, the window moulding, and the damn heater core that lost me a month of driving time this summer, I'm getting sick of taking my car to the dealership =( Hopefully this will be the last time for a while.

Glad I could help!

[AirManFL]

Sorry to bring back this thread...but just wanted to note that I'm taking my 2012 with 8,500 miles to dealer for this issue. It's chirping pretty loudly and the belt is working it's way off the pulley. It looks just like the pictures in Wolf's thread above and sounds like the video posted earlier.

Rob

[TRC-SS]

This is the type of thread that should be brought back to life over and over. That way people know what the issue is and how to fix it!!

[AirManFL]

I took my car to a dealer this morning and they replaced the best under warranty.

Rob

[2012-2SS]

Mine just started to squeal this morning. Took a look at it and sure enough the AC belt jumped a groove on the crank pulley. Put a socket on the crank bolt and re-aligned the belt by hand.

Glad I read this thread, it definitely saved me a trip to the dealer.

[ChevyCowboy]

Started up the car today in storage because it was a nice day, pulled her out of the garage and sure enough she had a loud constant squeak, looked at the a/c pulled and shes climbing off the pullet, seems like the crank pully might be pushed on a tad to much from the factory? or the a/c unit isnt lined up perfectly from the factory

[dookie454]

Has anybody found the root cause of this problem? I installed a whipple supercharger, and lately I've been hearing the belt squeal which I thought was from one of the idlers on the whipple setup, but closer inspection shows it's my AC belt, same problem. Crank side is slipped one grove forward.

In my many years of belt slip problems, 100% of the time the cause is from one of the pulleys being out of line.

[AirManFL]

Originally Posted by dookie454

Has anybody found the root cause of this problem? I installed a whipple supercharger, and lately I've been hearing the belt squeal which I thought was from one of the idlers on the whipple setup, but closer inspection shows it's my AC belt, same problem. Crank side is slipped one grove forward.

In my many years of belt slip problems, 100% of the time the cause is from one of the pulleys being out of line.

I haven't seen anyone post about having the issue multiple times on the same vehicle. This leads me to believe that they either aren't putting the belt on properly from the factory or the belts were defective. I know that sounds crazy but until someone has a recurring issue after having it fixed, It's impossible to make an assumption.

Rob

[dookie454]

Originally Posted by AirManFL

I haven't seen anyone post about having the issue multiple times on the same vehicle. This leads me to believe that they either aren't putting the belt on properly from the factory or the belts were defective. I know that sounds crazy but until someone has a recurring issue after having it fixed, It's impossible to make an assumption.

Rob

Maybe you need to re-read this topic, completely. There's at least three people in this thread that say it happened more than once, after it was "fixed/replaced" by the dealer.

Serpentine belts last over 175,000 miles, as long as they are not out of line. Usually, idler pulleys/tensioners wear out, then cause the belt to get chewed up. Belts dont just break/wear out for no reason.

My 1996 TA had the original serp. belt on the procharger for 20,000 miles, then suddenly started chewing $100 belts. Ended up being a worn tensioner.

Anyway, one guy had this happen 3 times. Yep. Fix #2 he got new AC pullies and bearings. #3 He ended up getting a new compressor since GM said it most likely wasn't machined properly and sat out of line.

His example, posted in this very topic:

Fireman Jay
Drives: 2012 2SS/RS M6 SW/IOM

I had a problem with mine twice. Belt was fraying on the front side. I had the belt changed then it did it again so the dealer replaced the AC Pully and clutch. It's happened a third time and the dealer said the AC compressor housing was machined improperly so they replaced it. No problem since. That was about 6000 miles ago.

[2011 SS SLP ZL427]

With all these multiple belt failures occuring the only conclusion is there has to be an alignement problem with the pulleys for the belt to be jumping up on the front of the crank pulley its not running off the back so that leads me to believe either the crank pulley is to far back or the A/C compressor is to far forward...

[motordom]

Originally Posted by Chevrolet Customer Svc

Sorry to hear about all of this guys. If any of you have trouble getting this taken care of let me know. I'll do what I can to help!

Jeff Morris, Chevrolet Customer Service

I bought my 2011 Camaro new in August 2011. A couple months later car was completely stock and developed a horrible squeal. I took it in to closest Chevy Dealer in Watsonville California. They said the AC belt was put on wrong at the factory and replaced it under warranty. Fast forward a little over a year and I develop the same belt squeal. By this time I have had a Magna charger supercharger on for a few months. I notice that the AC belt is trying to walk off the pulley away from the engine exactly as depicted in a photo posted on this thread. I take it back to Watsonville Chevy and they decide to swap out the crankshaft pulley since they think it will keep eating belts.

I get a call from them telling me that they took both belts off and the pulley and discovered it was "altered" during the supercharger install and that my warranty was voided. I argued that this same problem occurred before the supercharger install and is a known problem with these Camaros. They refused to work with me and told me that I would have to tow the car back to the installer of the supercharger. I had to buy a new pulley and AC belt out of pocket as they would not cover it under warranty.

Despite the fact that I had driven my clearly supercharged car in to Chevy, they took it apart and left it in pieces. I had to arrange to have the car towed 50 miles to Blu-808 in Campbell California where the supercharger was installed. Luke over at Blu-808 has been awesome and felt bad for me. He came back to the shop after hours to receive the tow and put the new pulley and belt on for no extra charge.

Within a couple of months the new pulley had shredded the new belt.

I see Camaros with and without superchargers on this forum having the same problems with the AC belt. I am very unhappy with Watsonville Chevy for blaming the supercharger and passing the buck when this is a known problem. Especially when their own service records show that my specific car had this problem before the supercharger.

I used to love my Camaro. Now whenever I drive it I'm worried that the belt might fly off and I'm embarrassed about the squeal. I think the idea that I have to live without AC in a 2011 car is ridiculous.