To clarify, I really don't give a rat's patootie about the sound, but after my serpentine belt shredded at 28,000 miles I began to think, maybe mistakenly, that the little slippage that causes the chirp may be taking its toll on the belt. At the price of the dang belt and for what a ballbuster it is to change, I was hoping for better belt life
Exactly.
My second belt is now starting to go. This is the replacement belt that was installed at 5400 miles (back in August of 2004) when the original one shredded. The "chirp" TSB did not exist at the time.
I was doing one of my routine inspections this morning, and found that there was a split starting in the first rib of one section (towards the front of the engine). The rest of the belt looks OK, although there does seem to be a little wear. This one has about 31,000 miles on it.
I'm going to call my dealer tomorrow and have them order the parts for the TSB, and a new belt, as I don't feel real comfortable about driving around on this one for any length of time here. My F350 PSD chirpped, this truck chirps, and it IS perfectly normal. However, the stress on shutdown which causes the chirp "could" cause faster belt wear. I've owned MANY vehicles, cars and trucks over the last almost 30 years, and never had belt issues at all.
So for you guys who get 100K out of your belts, that's great, but I don't seem to be having that luck, and maybe this TSB will help me out. I am at almost 4 years, and 36,000 miles, but I have a 7/70 on my truck, so maybe they will warranty it. Even if they don't, I don't mind paying just for the peace of mind.
Scott