Hi, a couple of years ago I put a post on about squeaking noise when cold from my 2012 4.4 TDV8 with 86k miles. At the time it was diagnosed as the tensioner & /or idler pullies, so they replaced all of these plus a new belt. Roll on 18 months & around 6k miles later & the noise starts again, same thing, squeaking when cold & goes away once warm. Well a few weeks ago I decided to try & find out why it was doing it again so I blew a bit of talc on the belt & the noise stopped immediately (but soon came back) so it looked like the belt was to blame, maybe glazed? I friend suggested trying some belt dressing which I did but this just resulted in the belt shredding about 2mm off its width (!) so yesterday I set about replacing it. I was quite shocked with the condition of the (not very old) belt, apart from the fact that 2mm had shredded off it if you flexed it it just cracked between the ribs & I don't think it would have lasted much longer, I initially wondered if the garage had not replaced it but I've found what I think is the date code which suggests it was manufactured in 2018 so seems they have, question is why would it deteriorate so badly in such a short space of time (2 years & only about 8k miles) it was made by Dayco which seems quite a common make to use?
With the new gates belt fitted the squeak has gone so will see how this one goes but I wondered as this squeak when cold seems quite common could it be more to do with the quality of the belt?
It would be interesting to know what make belts people who have the squeak have fitted?