my truck started doing the squealing thing last weekend when i was home for christmas. ive got a 99 dakota 5.9 v8 with about 70K miles...(dont know if thats important or not). i know its most likely a belt, but im not sure if ive got one of those universal belts or if ive got a serpentine belt, alternator belt, carburator belt etc...in there. hopefully my brother will be able to look at it this coming weekend...ive had serpentine belts replaced before, but not for a LONG time and on a different vehicle...can anyone give me a general ball park figure for how much it will cost to get a/these belts replaced? im just hoping it will last me long enough to get me to the weekend...or at least until i get my next paycheck in 2 weeks.


also, my temp gauge has been running a WEE bit hotter than it normally does...nothing over the middle line, but it normally runs around the quarter mark and the other day i noticed (before i put the heat on) that it was running up towards the middle. is my thermostat crapping out too? in my last death trap (a REALLY REALLY crappy 96 caravan...serious death trap) we just took the thermostat out becuase it wasnt working anyways (but the fan, radiator, and numerous other things stopped working in that as well). argh... its always something..

mabey one of the components that is run by the belts is loose, like the water pump or something...just a guess

hopefully. my mom said it could be squealing because the belt is wet? who knows..hopefully my brother can take a look at it this weekend and it wont be too much to fix

Rub a little candel wax on the underside of the belts. DON'T TRY IT WITH THE ENGINE RUNNING. With the engine off just rub a candle on them. Never use belt dressing on a serpentine belt, doubt if you have that type.

replace the serpentine belt and tensioner.

with regards to the engine temp guage, it could be a number of things. With the motor cold (let it sit overnight) start it up and feel the upper and lower radiator hoses. both of them should get hot when the engine warms up and the coolant starts circulating. if they dont warm up then replace the thermostat.