Lude Generation

So my Del Sol has developed a squeal over the past few weeks and its getting a bit worse.

I get a squeal sound when driving, it only happens under load when I'm accelerating. It gets a bit louder when I accelerate faster or go up a hill, it doesn't make any noise when its in neutral.

Does anyone have any idea what it could be? I presume a belt, but which one?

alternator? had the cambelt changed lately?

also aircon if you have it, sometime's the bearings go

Does the car make the noise all the time or only when you have the lights, air con etc on? If so you might be able to tell if it is the alternator belt by putting it under more load by turning on rear demister, lights on full etc to see if you can force the noise more easily. Turn them off to see if it goes away or it becomes harder to get the sound.

The alternator belt on my lude was slipping just for the first 30 secs in the morning (wet cold mornings mostly), if i turned on the headlights and got out the car they became noticeable brighter once the squeeling went away.

It doesn't have aircon. It makes the noise regardless of the lights are on or not.

I've done some more investigating today and its the alternator. It makes no noise when stationary, so does that mean I just need to change the belt or the whole alternator?

Try tightening the alternator belt first. I would only replace it if it looks cracked/frayed.

Maybe it's just excited?

Going to swap the alternator out, access is virtually non existent tho. Should be fun!

Why are you swapping the alternator? If it is just a squeal it will be the belt.

Its a bizarre squeal, it sounds a bit more than the belt. Guess I can swap the belt first and see what happens.