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My wife's [bold]1999 Jeep Cherokee 4.0 eng w/ac had what sounded like a loose serpentine belt. It looked OK from a visual but it squealed every time the engine was started. I had the belt replaced and the mechanic says that it wasn't the belt, but the distributor gear. He said he listened to it by putting a wrench extension to the base and isolating the noise. Is this possible? The sound is identical to a squealing fan belt. Please give us your professional opinion. Is this commom for this engine? By the way, it has 108,000 miles on the engine. After driving for a block or two the noise goes away and only returns when the engine is cold started. Thank you in advance for your valued opinion.
Been there before, many times, The distributor has a bearing that usually dries out, I have changed many distributors on the 4.0 from 95 and up , a very common problem with the 4.0. The only problem is after a while it will come to a point were it will seize up the distributor. Part: NRD 484495