prowakeskater

iTrader: (14)

So in the last 2 days I have gone through 4 different serp belts after mine started making that incredibly annoying cricket-chirp. It was only at 6k miles, which definitely raised a red-flag, but its been a long 6k miles and I thought my AMS remote oil pressure line leaked some slippery stuff on it. NBD

I decided to replace it with a cheapo 1 year warrantied one just to find it doing the same thing. I then replaced it with the better Dayco option and SCORE, noise gone... for a few miles.

A few minutes after a short 3rd-5th gear run, my engine started making a god awful noise that resembled a rod throwing. I actually thought I threw a rod. After popping the hood, I noticed my brand new belt had ripped into pieces, with only 3 *ribs *surviving and the rest being slapped through my engine bay, getting wrapped around my compressor pulley as well. I shrugged it off as defective

So today I replaced it with an uber nice Gatorback which I should have done in the first place, so it seemed.. until just a few minutes ago when my belt started squealing after a 2nd gear pull. Inspection showed my belt had skipped a tooth over on my compressor

SO, I'm thinking now its my tensioner. BUT, I do see that my Power Steering pulley and my compressor pulley don't line up perfectly. My compressor is about 1/4-1/2" closer to the engine. Why is that?

Anyways, since my tensioner pulley is fine, is there a way to get it to apply more force? better spring? Im running about 400tq

meckert

iTrader: (11)

Thinking you need to go deeper... The noise, broken belts-- miss aligned pullies. doesnt add up to tensioner to me. You dont need a stronger tensioner because you have 400tq, you have another problem thats shreading your belts.. look closer.

prowakeskater

iTrader: (14)

everything is in as it should be, and it seems the pulleys are meant to be slightly off, the pulley coming off the compressor looks like its in its designed position.

Can you do me a favor and go take a peek at your car? look straight down at your power steering pulley and tell me if your compressor is 100% plum under it.

bnr34rb26dett

iTrader: (29)

not related to this problem but my pulley was making hissing noise
i took the belt off and span every pulley to find out that my AC pulley has gone bad. i WD40d the pulley in the mean time and replaced the belt. problem fixed.
have you tried spinning all the pulleys once the belt is off?

meckert

iTrader: (11)

Sure-- looked, here is the deal. Everything lines up and by that I mean all the pulleys, left rt and up and down are all in line--meaning all the pulley grooves all line up. My belt is straight up and down as i look at it. Dont look at the pulleys, look at the grooves or the pulley edge where the belt rests, not the clutch of the ac as it sticks out.

prowakeskater

iTrader: (14)

even if I was counting the clutch, I'm saying the compressor pulley is closer to the engine. I should say manifold, though. If you hold up a string with some type of weight on it, you're saying the grooves for the pulleys line up flush, straight up and down? if so, I have a problem with my compressor

prowakeskater

iTrader: (14)

yep, inspected, cleaned, and tested each pulley before putting the Dayco on yesterday. The chirp was def the belt, as the pulleys are all sealed, and with just a tad of water to the belt, the squeal would disappear.

but just to be clear, the dayco and gatorback belts do NOT squeal

prowakeskater

iTrader: (14)

any other opinions?

prowakeskater

iTrader: (14)

Also- I have removed the serp belt quite a few times. Every time I have propped the tensioner with an allen wrench to keep it open. I am really thinking my spring has been compromised from these prolonged openings.

do replacement tensioners come with a new spring? is there a way to fix the spring?

barneyb

I don't see why a slightly weak tensioner spring would tear up a belt. Anyway, I doubt the spring is available as a separate part - need to buy a new tensioner.

awdordie

iTrader: (1)

meckert is right. If your saying your compressor pulley is closer to the engine and the grooves do not line up then that is causing the noise and the tossing of the belts. i too took a look at mine and its aligned perfectly. not trying to be a dick, but common sense should tell you if its not aligned then it will put stress on the belt, squeal, chew them up, and then spit them out.

Sarg

I personally like manual tensioners much better.

Deeeeej1973

iTrader: (1)

Bump! My car is in the shop and supposedly this same problem is occurring on mine. Was this issue ever resolved?

P.S. I drove the car 5k after buying it last summer and never had an issue with breaking/squeeling belts. Now after having the head removed supposedly the belt is wanting to slip off and thus, is getting torn slightly. The shop said it could either be the compressor pulley or the tensioner pulley. I am having them replace the belt/tensioner and I will find out the results tomorrow.