Could Bad Starter (Turning over Slowly) Cause Belt Squeak?

I have a 2000 Cherokee with the 4.0. Have a brand new battery. First thing in the morning, the car will turn over slowly, but still starts every time. When it starts the belt will squeak. It does it when it is warmed up but not very bad. It also turns over a little faster.

So to my question. Can a bad starter that is turning over slowly cause the belt to squeak? My only thinking is if the engine and belt is turning over really slowly and then starts which makes it turn over real quick, it might take the belt a second to catch up. Let me know what you think. I would hate to spend $150 on a starter for it to not even fix the problem. Thanks

that doent sound real likely to me i would pull the belt off and make sure every thing turns smothly by hand and go from there

1. Sounds like your battery/cables/starter-solenoid need attention. NEVER a**ume because a part was recently replaced it isn't part of the problem.

2. Your belt is squealing for any number of reasons: incorrect adjustment; contamination; failing idler/belt driven accessory.

You should remove the belt and examine it for contamination/damage. While the belt is off turn each of the idlers and accessories by hand, checking for stiffness/grittiness/wobble, any sign of impending failure. Install a new Goodyear Gatorback belt if you need a replacement. Using a proper belt tension gauge adjust the old belt to 140-160 lbs; a new belt gets 180-200 lbs; any belt that has been run for 15+ minutes is a used belt.

Back to the starting issue: pull the battery, fully charge it, have it load tested. While it is out clean the ends of the battery cables--both ends. Reinstall the battery (or a replacement) and then do a voltage drop test on the cables: http://www.aa1car.com/library/voltage_drop_testing.htm

If all of that passes or you have replaced items AND IT STILL DRAGS on cranking, then pull the starter and have it rebuilt or replace it.

Note: all of the 4.0 starters will work, so you don't have to pay the robber-baron prices for a late model starter. Purchase the cheaper older model and just change the cable ends.

Good luck.

Thanks for the quick replies. It has a brand new gatorback belt, I bought a Dayco from Advance, thought it might be the belt causing it, so I bought a Goodyear.

I then thought it might be some surface rust on the water pump pulley. I just did an engine swap so there was some minor surface rust on the pulley. I scuffed it off, but it still does it. I will go back and look at everything tomorrow.

It doesn't squeak at all once its cranked. You can turn the A/C on, no squeak. Rev it up, etc.

Also, thanks for the tip on the starters, that will save about $100 if I need to get one.

The more I think about it, I probably need to just replace that pulley. It was the water pump pulley, but can't find it online. Anyone happen to know where to get one or a part number for it? Thank you

I hope you noticed the part in Joe's post where he tells you the tension. XJ belts must be tighter than you might think they ought to be. If the belt is slipping you may not be getting sufficient charge, and that will cause the starter to be a bit draggy in the morning. And of course, conversely if the belt is slipping it will squeak when the alternator cuts in after cranking. I'd get the tension adjusted first, and diagnose further only after that's done.

I've also had slipping belts that did not squeal, so it's also possible it's slipping more than you think. My old 87 never squealed, and you'd only know the belt wasn't tensioned right when the power steering lost boost (silently) in an emergency maneuver! The Krikit II tensioner saved my butt.

This may be way off base, but we had a "belt squeal" on our ZJ that turned out to be the distributor shaft binding up. Granted the OPs XJ doesn't have a traditional distributor, it will still have the cam position sensor and plug in there to drive the oil pump. Might want to be absolutely sure the squeak is at the front of the engine before spending too much time on the belt.

Just one more thing to check while you're under there.