Serpentine belt failure..

hwrdbd · Oct 6, 2013

Couple years ago I had to replace my serpentine belt. I didn't get one of the ribs all the way onto a pullet and once started it took that one rib of the belt clean off. Ran the belt no problem until this week. After doing some work I put the belt back on, and with my previous mishap in mind I took extra care to make sure the ribs of the belt were all aligned on the pulleys. 99% sure I had it on proper lol.
Well I went to check my oil this morning and it seems that the belt decided to unravel itself a bit more. Another rib separated from the belt and wound itself around the ac compressor pulley, the idler pulley, and scattered a few pieces around under the hood. The belt also seemed to come into a disagreement with my oil dipstick.. which is no longer a part of my truck.
So moral of the story, keep an eye on the condition of your belts...

ToMang07 · Oct 6, 2013

No.

The moral of the story is do it right the first time, and don't half-ass it like a dumbass. :slap:

Did you at least get the gates upper radiator hose for dual alternator setup? (Or have it already?)

POWER-STRUCK · Oct 6, 2013

you may want to check for tensioner failure.

dzldoctor · Oct 6, 2013

You need to replace the tensioner.

hwrdbd · Oct 6, 2013

What is proper method of checking tensioner? It certainly doesn't feel weak, even compared the one I just replaced on a friend's truck.
And what does the upper radiator hose have to do with anything?

lincolnlocker · Oct 6, 2013

POWER-STRUCK said:
you may want to check for tensioner failure.

dzldoctor said:
You need to replace the tensioner.

yup what they said, on both my 7.3s this happened..

live life full throttle

mandkole · Oct 6, 2013

hwrdbd said:
What is proper method of checking tensioner? It certainly doesn't feel weak, even compared the one I just replaced on a friend's truck.
And what does the upper radiator hose have to do with anything?

At Gates, our marketing guys came up with 'spin-cycle'...

1) you spin the idler pulley feeling for any stickiness. As bearings throw their grease out over time, this is usually the first thing that fails on our tensioners.

2) Then, you cycle the tensioner arm feeling for notchiness, or difficulty in rotation. Many of our competitors tensioners will quickly lose their damping and often the pivot shaft support is weak and if this breaks, it will begin to misalign the arm. This then misaligns the pulley and belt which will quickly lead to belt chirping then in extreme circumstances, fail the belt.

In your case, it sounds like you damaged the tensile cord in the belt which began to kill itself over time.

The radiator hose runs on the other side of the belt. Gates.com should have some tech pages on it or youtube videos.

http://www.youtube.com/user/GatesAutoAftermarket?feature=watch

greyford1979 · Oct 6, 2013

When my tensioner went bad it didn't really feel weak either, but the pulley was making noise. But compared to the new one I replaced it with, it was definitely weaker. My tensioner also was separating at the bottom of the casing when I replaced it.

David N · Oct 6, 2013

Yep. Tensioner is bad. Get one off amazon. I think it was $60.

littleredstroker · Oct 6, 2013

Least this didn't happen lololol
sent while staring at a windowed block

POWER-STRUCK · Oct 6, 2013

if you see a gap larger than 1/8" between the 2 aluminum bodies that house the spring. then the tensioner is bad. dayco and gates make a replacement that is better than factory

lincolnlocker · Oct 7, 2013

vatozone sells them with a lifetime warranty.. in my case i bought one a couple years ago and both my 7.3s and my brothers 02 7.3 have new tensioner's on them with only one original purchase....

Arisley · Oct 7, 2013

Betcha when you put the belt back on, you put it on turning the opposite direction. It was already failed from the first time you put it on, then turning the other way just finished it off.

The dual alternator radiator hose allows you to remove the belt without removing the hose.

hwrdbd · Oct 7, 2013

Well apparently I've had the better hose on my truck since I bought it a couple years ago, never had to pull it to change belt. I'll look into my tensioner. Thanks for the info.