Alternator belt keeps shredding

[ronnie81592]

I was driving home tonight when I suddenly lost power steering. I checked under the hood and found my alternator belt had been shredded in half (did not get caught in my timing belt thank God). I just recently replaced my belt with a POS Goodyear belt from Hovis about a month ago and it just recently began squealing on startup over the past week.

Also, I put in a water pump just before I got the new belt and a reman. alternator a couple weeks ago so I highly doubt the bearings in either one have gone bad. I put the pulley back on the water pump the correct way so it can't be that either.

I was wondering what could cause these belts to keep breaking. I have read on other forums that if one of the pulleys is misaligned, they will just chew right through the belt but I'm not sure how to really test this. I don't believe it broke from undertightening the alternator tensioner either since it was shredded and not a clean break.

Thanks in advance!

 

[IrishBeatdown]

I don't believe it broke from undertightening the alternator tensioner either since it was shredded and not a clean break.

Thanks in advance!

What did the tensioner look like? Was it still engaged? And why would the alt belt take out the timing belt? You are running a timing cover I hope.....or your problems with alternator belts will seem inconsequential compared to what comes next.

 

[boosted1stgen]

Do you have all the black plastic panels that seperate your wheel well from pulley area? Ive seen cars without them where rocks have bounced up and will get embedded in the belt making a hole, and caused it to break. Just something to check. Usually when a belt squeaks on start up and then goes away, its usually either fluid on the belt or not enough tension.

 

[ronnie81592]

I do have the timing belt cover on, for some reason I thought there was an opening by the crank pulley where the timing belt was exposed but I was wrong.

The plastic panels are in my wheel wells so I doubt a stray rock made it's way in there. When I tightened my belt, I tightened it so that I could turn the belt 1/4 way (90°) with firm force but it may have stretched since I first put it on. Usually it did just squeal on startup but tonight it did not stop until the belt snapped

 

[boosted1stgen]

Check the alignment of pulley's by eye, or with a belt on, if ones misaligned, you should be able to tell

 

[luv2rallye]

Also check for harmonic balancer separation.

 

[ronnie81592]

My crank pulley looks fine, no separation or cracks. I got a new belt for free so I'm going home to check it out. When I looked, it seemed like the water pump pulley was aligned well with the crabk pulley but the alternator pulley looked a little off

 

[luv2rallye]

I know you said you checked water pump pulley for being on wrong but check again using this: http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/new...n-out-water-pump-pulley-go.html#post151166499

 

[boostaddix]

Could be as simple as you tightening it to tight.. Pretty sure if you try all of the other things that are already suggested and don't come up with an answer. My guess is you probably tighten the hell out of the belt when it started squealing.

 

[ronnie81592]

Yeah that could be it, I did notice a few weeks ago that there was a wire looking thing caught in the alternator pulley which was actually a piece of the belt. I'll see if the new one is any better. It's not an OEM belt so it might just be a piece of garbage.

 

[daplatano91]

You put the pully on the pump backwards. You are supposed to put the pully for ps first cupping the pump. Then the alt pully cupping the ps pully. So in your case just take the alt pully off and turn it around.

 

[ronnie81592]

?? I never had to take the alternator pulley off in the first place, it came attached to the alternator. And I would have known if the alternator was on backwards, believe me. Also, I did put the water pump pulley on the correct way (I triple checked it to be sure). And I never took the power steering pump off so there shouldn't be any problem there.

I think the main cause was undertightening of the belt which caused it to slip and catch on the crank pulley. This is the only thing i could think of that would chew the belt apart, but it is just a guess.

 

[daplatano91]

?? I never had to take the alternator pulley off in the first place, it came attached to the alternator. And I would have known if the alternator was on backwards, believe me. Also, I did put the water pump pulley on the correct way (I triple checked it to be sure). And I never took the power steering pump off so there shouldn't be any problem there.

I think the main cause was undertightening of the belt which caused it to slip and catch on the crank pulley. This is the only thing i could think of that would chew the belt apart, but it is just a guess.

By alt pulley I meant the one that is on the water pump that the alt belt rides on. Trust me it is very easy to put on backwards and it fits both ways. Only thing if your put that pulley on with the wrong side against the ps pulley on water pump the alt belt will be miss aligned by 1 tooth. So the car would drive fine for a short period but will shred itself apart from ridding off. Just do your self a simple favor and take those 4 10mm bolts off and flip the one pulley the alt belt rides on and bolt everything back up.
I'm telling you this from experience it something I've seen many many times and is easily overlooked.

 

[luv2rallye]

No need to take the pulley off, just look at it. Alt belt and PS belt should have a gap about 1/4" between them. Also site down between the alternator pulley and the water pump pulley that the alt belt rides on - they should line up. Here's a pic of how looks when the water pump pulley is on backwards: https://www.dsmtuners.com/threads/c...r-pump-pulley-to-go-on.228253/#post-151166499.

 

[ronnie81592]

I may have found the problem. The lower bolt on my alternator did not have the nut on it, I must not have tightened it enough when I swapped out the old one. I threw a new nut on there so we'll see if that works