beehall

68 cutlass 350. Power steering squeals. I have cleaned the pulleys. Tightened and loosened the PS belt adjustment. No help.
The pump is new.
A couple of questions:
How tight should the belt be? There is about 1/2" play up & down on the top side.
Could the pump be dragging enough to do this? It spins freely by hand with very little resistance.
Thanks in advance for guidance.

w31man

Is the belt new also?

Vintage Chief

You need an original paperback edition of the GM 1968 Oldsmobile Chassis Service Manual, it is your bible. Don't purchase a reprint or a digital copy - they lack detail, sometimes are missing pages, and digital copies lack clarity. The original paperback editions contain the color wiring diagram. They range in price from ~$30 - $85. Search around. Again, it's going to be your bible & most likely the best investment you make for your Cutlass.

Used 1968 Oldsmobile Chassis Service Manual

beehall

yes, new belt. I have the digital manual. It is basically useless. I shall search for an original.

Vintage Chief

Smart man...

EDIT: BTW, I provided you a link (above) to a nice used edition, but you might search around. Good Luck.

oldcutlass

You may have purchased the wrong belt profile, too thin for the pulley. Or, it's just not tight enough.

beehall

Just put in another new belt. Squeals just as bad as the older new one.
How tight should I pull that tensioner?
I do not want to screw up the water pump.
Or do I just keep tightening the belt and pray?

joe_padavano

https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...44/#post432836

Fun71

The belts need to be tight. I have never had a power steering belt squeal, and I also never had a water pump, alternator, or power steering bearing fail because the belts were too tight.

Vintage Chief

Agree w/ Kenneth. Those belts need to be very tight - very tight indeed.

66SportCoupe

I've never had a belt squeal issue. Buy AC Delco belts from rockauto.

joe_padavano

I've never had a belt squeal issue with belts from any source, and that includes on my 307s with the A/C belt off.

beehall

I have the belts TIGHT!!!!
Now it is down to a tolerable occasional chirp.
I can live with that.

Here's what I found: After putting a metal straight edge on the crank pulley and the PS pulley, it showed that the water pump side of the PS pulley was about 1/4" out of line towards the engine side.
I took the PS bracket off and put a single lock washer behind the two studs on the water pump side and put the bracket back.
Lined up nicely. I am wondering of there should have been a lock washer on these stud bolts where they go into the engine.
Since I did not get the Olds new, some previous owner may have left them out.

Thank you all for your help with this. Persistence has paid off.

joe_padavano

The missing PS pump spacers are frequently a problem.

beehall

damn, I am so VERY pleased I found this site.

joe_padavano

And since they are frequently missing, you can buy repros.

beehall

another new alternator belt. this one is 48". per the lookup, it should be 49", but that had no more adjustment.
I cannot believe how TIGHT those belts need to be.

Vintage Chief

As has been mentioned - they need to be TIGHT.

EDIT> Think about it. There is no belt tensioner on these cars - none. Therefore, make 'em TIGHT.

Oldsguy

I think I agree Norm but was confused to hear a good old friend and retired auto mechanic state that it is wise to be careful not to tighten them too much to prevent water pump bearing failure. He said if you can twist it 90 degrees then it is tight enough.

Oldsguy

Also, not to hijack this thread. I have been working with belt replacements on my '72 Vista Cruiser and waiting for the water pump to arrive tomorrow (if failed). For the life of me I could not get the lower front nut loose on the power steering pump. It is the pivot point nut I think. Now I have everything loose and the pump is only attached by the low pressure and high pressure hoses sitting on top of the steering box. I can't remember how to get that darn nut loose. It is 9/16ths but the hole in the pulley doesn't line up enough to put a socket through it to loosen the bolt, and I can just get a standard box wrench on it from underneath but there is no room to turn it without hitting the steering box or part of a bracket. I have done this before years ago but can't remember what I did. Of course now with the pump loose I can't hold it firmly enough to get leverage to loosen the nut. I am thinking about loosening the low pressure and high pressure lines and putting this thing on the bench, maybe even taking the pulley off. But still, there has to be a way to loosen that nut while the pump is installed to facilitate r/r of a belt or simply tightening it. I still need to be able to tighten it once everything is reassembled and the belt needs to be tightened.

72455

"Bump" the engine until the hole lines up with the nut.

Greg Rogers

If you are talking about the bolt I think, I used to loosen and tighten it with a open end wrench, but it sounds like it's too tight for that? Well now it's off car it may be easiest to take off pulley with a impact air wrench and take bolt loose with a impact. Good Luck!

Oldsguy

Yeah, I think it's time for the whole pump to go to the bench. I think someone really tightened it but good.

Oldsguy

Did take the pump to the bench, used an oil filter wrench (rubber strap type) on the pulley and loosened the nut, the pulley came right off, then was able to put the pump on the bench in a vise with light pressure and loosen that nut. Everything is finished now and back on the car, all good except the pump might be leaking so I may end up replacing it after all.

Fun71

If it's leaking around the reservoir, there is a big o-ring that can be replaced.

Oldsguy

do you mean where the reservoir mates to the cast pump body?

Fun71

Yes.

Oldsguy

I bet that's it then.

Oldsguy

Well I have a follow up on the power steering pump. It was leaking and it appeared to be leaking out the front of the shaft where the pulley mounts so I figured it was a bad bearing/bushing. What the heck I just bought a re-man from O'Reilly Auto. After putting everything back together I somehow got the belts mixed up and put the alternator belt in front of the power steering belt, DUH! Upon start up it immediately threw the belt. So back under the hood. Next time I start it up everything looks fine but it still had a leak, it was from the low pressure hose, the original clamp was the "squeeze" type and wasn't sealing the hose well. So another trip to the store for a new clamp, more Power steering fluid, and some GUNK to clean up the mess. Finally got everything back together and all is now good. Whew!

On a side note, don't you hate it when a pervious owner just smears extra grease all over the pitman arm, steering linkage, tie rod ends etc. and then leaves it? After who knows how many years you have steering linkage that looks like a combination of crooked sticks with big clods of mud and dirt on them. It took me an hour of scraping and wire wheeling all that junk off just to satisfy my "might as well" urge to clean it. At least now I can grease the front end without getting showered with dirt and grime.

Vintage Chief

Most likely the permeable type!

Well, Dan - Ya gotter dun. Good job. The next owner will know the previous owner did things correctly.

Oldsguy

Hopefully the next owner would be Jesse. That stuff was bad. Going to grease the front end tomorrow.